High School
by oldpbfan21
Summary: Suddenly, a 14-year-old Franky finds himself in high school! Having been accepted to Pine Hill School For The Arts, he's faced with many new challenges. There, he'll meet some new friends, new enemies, and Cadence... somebody who turns his life upside down. My first fanfiction! Let me know if you like it :)
1. Chapter 1: First Day

High school. It's kinda scary when you think about it. Especially when you're me.

I felt so short as I waddled through the crowded hallways. I was a freshman here, and it was the first day. I was nervous.

I looked around for my locker. 128...128... Oh, here it is. I opened the blue metal locker and put my backpack in it. My lockermate to my left was a green penguin with whitish-blond hair and a blue t-shirt. He smiled at me.

"Hi! I'm Devin," he said.

"Oh, hi, I'm Franky," I replied, a little shyly.

"Are you from around here?" he asked.

"No, not really. I'm from Clinton. My parents moved here when I got accepted." I put my guitar in my locker.

"Oh, cool! How far away is it?"

"About a 4-hour drive from here. What about you?"

"I live about 30 minutes down the road, in Alton."

"Oh, so you're not far."

"Not at all." He shut his locker. "There's an assembly first-period. Wanna sit with me?"

"Sure," I said as I closed my locker too.

We managed to find our way to the auditorium. It was a huge room. The whole school was there. There was a brown podium at the front. Standing at the podium was a tall dark-blue penguin with neat brown hair, a brown suit, a red tie, and a dark-brown shirt. He was the principal, Mr. Coon.

"Hello, everyone!" he said. He had an official-sounding voice. "Welcome to your first day at Pine Hill School For The Arts. For some of you, it's the beginning for four years here. For others, this is your last year."

He paused.

"Freshmen," he said. "You should all be very proud to be here. No less than three hundred and six penguins applied for freshman year, and there are one hundred and twenty one of you left."

"That means we rock," Devin whispered, and I smiled.

"Sophomores..." he continued, and I kind of zoned out. I'm not a sophomore. I don't need to pay attention.

I looked around. There were a lot of us. Next to me was a pink girl with short blond hair and a friendly look on her face. She looked nice enough, but I didn't want to risk getting in trouble on the first day, so I didn't try to talk to her, or anyone.

In front of me, there was a light-blue boy with long blond hair and a black jacket. There were a bunch of girls around him. He seemed like the popular type. The type of guy who's like a girl magnet. Definitely not me. I never got girls. They're like a totally different species. I've never had a girlfriend, or even liked a girl. I just steer clear. My mom says I'll find a girl someday. My dad says I'm smart.

The assembly lasted about an hour. They talked about the different classes and the curriculum and stuff like that. It was interesting, but I wasn't hanging on to every word like they were the key to survival. After the assembly ended, Devin and I waddled back to our lockers.

"What class do you have first?" he asked as he looked at his schedule.

I glanced at mine. Monday, second period- English. "English," I replied.

"Oh. I have History. Well, catch you later, Franky," he said. With that, he was gone.

I looked around. English, Room 8B. Okay...

Somehow I managed to find my way to room 8B, but I was 5 minutes late. The teacher, a purple penguin with long, curly brown hair and a blue blouse, stood at a brown desk in the front of the room. She gave me a disapproving look as I hurried in and took the last available seat, in the back.

The desks were put into pairs, and my seat mate was a peach girl with a pink-and-yellow scarf, a pair of black-and-white sneakers, a purple shirt with a pink pattern on the three-quarter sleeves, and a pair of pink-and-yellow wristbands. She had hair that was kinda short for a girl. It was bright-purple with a hot-pink spot in it, and it hung around her face, parting in the middle and surrounding the back and sides of her head. She had dark eyelashes and big black eyes.

For the first time in my life, I found myself gaping at a girl.

"Where were you?" the teacher snapped, and I looked up. She was standing right next to my desk.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find my way here..." I said quietly, putting my books in the desk.

"You're late," she said, then went to the front of the room again. She sat at her desk and started working on something. A couple penguins snickered at me.

"You may talk quietly for a few minutes," she said. Everyone started talking.

I looked at the girl again. She lifted her flipper and pushed some hair out of her eyes, then looked at me.

"Hi," she said softly.

I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was so pretty. "Hi," I replied.

"I'm Cadence," she said.

Cadence. What a cool name. "I'm Franky," I said lamely. "Cadence is an awesome name."

She smiled. "Thanks. You should hear some of the other names in my family. My dad's name is Rockhopper."

"That's his legal name?"

She nodded. "Yup."

I grinned. "My family's names are blah. Franky is so... ho-hum."

"I think it's a nice name."

"Thanks."

"I think I saw you at the assembly. Were you with Devin?"

"Yeah."

"I know Devin. We went to middle school together. He's nice, but he talks a lot." She grinned.

"Yeah, he does talk a lot."

She looked around. "There's a lot of Shakespeare stuff here, huh?"

I nodded. There were quotes from Shakespeare plays all over the bulletin boards, and there must've been a book for every play the guy wrote in the room.

"Totally not my thing," she said quietly. I grinned.

"Same," I replied.

She sighed. "This is gonna be a long day."

"I agree." I was happy to be making conversation with her.

I was still staring at her, and she was fully aware of it. "It's okay, you can stare. Everyone does. It's the hair." She looked down.

"I think your hair's cool."

She looked up, smiling. "Really?"

I nodded, and just then, the teacher said, "All right, let's get started."

I looked to the front of the class, and so did Cadence.

"Okay, we're going to go around the room. Tell me your first name."

The classes seemed to drag by, but eventually, the day was over. Dismissal was at 5 PM. We had bought a house about 10 minutes from school. I missed the old house, but not the old neighborhood.

My dad had picked me up. He had been at a surfing competition today, and had just gotten home. He picked me up on his way home.

"Hey, Franky!" he said as I got in the passenger seat. He was orange, and had on a red tee today. We started driving.

"Hi," I said, sighing. "Boy, am I tired."

He grinned. "Welcome to high school, buddy!"

I rolled my eyes. "Don't remind me."

"So how was the first day? Meet any cool penguins?"

"Um... There's this guy named Devin who was being pretty nice..."

"I'm not interested in guys, Franky! I wanna know if you met any girls." He had that sneaky look in his eye.

I went bright red. "No girls, Dad."

"Aha! Shy Franky comes out, we know something's up. Tell me everything."

"Dad, I didn't meet any girls."

"You're blushing. C'mon. What's her name?"

I sighed. I guess I can tell him. "Her name..." I paused. "Her name's Cadence, and she's GORGEOUS."

"Ahh ha ha!" he said with a laugh. "You have your first crush!"

I blushed. "Not really, Dad..."

"What's she look like?"

"She's peach and she has this hair...it's purple and pink, and it's really pretty..."

"She's the type who dyes her hair, huh?"

"No, no, Dad... she told me it was her natural color..."

"Well, that's strange, but I guess you do get a very unique penguin every now and again..."

"Dad, she's awesome."

He smiled. "Tell me more."


	2. Chapter 2: The Friend Zone

I waddled into the lunchroom. It was a big room with lots of tables there. Each day, we ate with one of the other three grades. Yesterday, we'd eaten with the juniors. On Monday, we'd eaten with the sophomores. Today, the seniors joined us for lunch, but it was clear that the freshmen didn't want anything to do with them, and vice versa.

I looked around for somewhere to sit, then spotted Cadence sitting alone at a table in the back and made my way over.

"Hi," I said. She looked up from her purple lunch bag.

"Oh, hi!" she said cheerfully.

"Could I join you?" I asked.

She nodded. "Of course."

I sat down next to her. She was wearing a light-yellow shirt today, and the same scarf, sneakers, and wristbands that she'd been wearing Monday and Tuesday.

She dug into her lunch bag and pulled out a tinfoil cylinder. Unwrapping it, she began, "You like it here so far?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. It's very music-centered."

She smiled. "What's your favorite song of all time?"

I couldn't stop watching her. "I think maybe 'Lean on Me' by Bill Withers."

Cadence beamed. "I love that song! It's really good!"

I nodded. "I've always loved that song. How about you?"

She considered for a moment. "My favorite... I think... is 'Fighter' by Christina Agiulera. It's such a tough song."

I nodded. "That's a great one."

"What genres do you like?"

I shrugged. "Anything, really. I don't like metal or really hard rap, but a lot of the other stuff I like. I especially like country and pop."

She grinned. "I like pop and alternative, with a little rap mixed in."

This gives a whole new meaning to 'can't take my eyes off you', I thought.

"Do you write music?" I asked.

She thought for a minute. "I've written a couple songs, but nothing amazing. I can't think of anything to write about. I've never been in love, or out of love, or had something really terrible happen to me or something really great. My life is kinda boring."

She's never been in love? She's that pretty, that nice, and she's never been in love? "So what are your songs about?"

She shrugged. "Anything, really. I love school dances, and once I wrote a song about one. Obviously I didn't say the words 'school dance' in the song, but... I love parties. My dream is to be a DJ or a singer one day."

"That's awesome. DJ Cadence, it kinda rolls off your tongue."

She giggled a little. "I always thought that, too."

She was eating her wrap thing, but I had ditched my PB&J to talk to her instead.

"So are you from around here?" I asked casually.

"Yeah, I live about a ten-minute drive away. Me, Charles, and Alexa are the only three penguins from this town that got accepted."

Wow. "Charles and Alexa... I don't think I've seen them."

"You probably have... Charles is light-blue with blond hair, wears a lot of black, and is a girl magnet, and Alexa's a really quiet girl with red hair. She's yellow."

"Oh, yeah, I saw them." I paused. "So you three are the only ones. That's impressive."

"Oh, thanks," she said with a blush. After a pause, she continued, "So where are you from?"

"I'm from Clinton. It's about a 4-hour drive from here. We moved here when I got accepted."

"Oh, wow. Talk about supportive parents."

I nodded. "They're great. We travel a lot for me. It makes me sound spolied, but I think they just really support me."

"Yeah, that's cool." She was smiling at me. At me! "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

I shook my head. "Only child."

She grinned. "Same. Do you like it?"

"Umm... I guess. It can be lonely at times, but let me tell you, I get a lot more time to do what I want when I don't have a sister or brother bugging me."

She laughed. "Yeah!"

"I'm really close to my dad, though. He's away at least once a month for surfing- that's kinda what he does- and when he comes home I'm always really excited."

She smiled. "My dad's away a lot too. He sails. Mostly he's a fisherman, but he thinks he's a pirate from 1490. He's even adapted the pirate-talk thing. He says 'ahoy' and 'ye' and 'yo-ho'. Crazy, but he's still my dad."

I laughed, and there was a pause.

"Do you have, like, cousins?" she asked.

"One, named Willow, and she's nuts. My dad's whole side of the family except for my dad himself have this Southern accent. I picked up on it a teeny little bit. Willow wants to be a country singer. She's a junior this year. Not at this school, though."

"Oh, cool. My whole dad's side of the family is whacked. So- try to follow this- my dad doesn't have any siblings, but he has a cousin, and the cousin is my uncle, even though he's technically my second uncle or something. Then he's married and he has a son in 4th grade, and he's my cousin. Following me here?"

"Yeah..." I said.

"So yeah, I guess I have one cousin, but he's absolutely out of his mind insane. His name is Rookie, yes, that's his legal name, and he's a klutz. But he's really funny."

I grinned. "Rookie. Cool name."

"My family is the Weird Name Department."

"There's more?"

"No, that's it. But we have such weird names."

"What's your uncle's name?"

"Well, this one's slightly normal. It's Gary. And my aunt's name is Annie, but nobody calls her that, they all call her Aunt Arctic. Which is so weird, because everyone says that, but she's literally my aunt..."

"That must be confusing."

"Don't get me started. So what about your family? Any weird names?"

"No, not really."

"Lucky you. The name 'Cadence' subjects me to a bunch of terrible nicknames. This mean girl named Majesty at my middle school always called my 'Can't-dance'. I really like to dance, but it doesn't exactly help when your name sets you up for a bunch of bad nicknames."

"I think it's a pretty name."

She blushed. "Thanks."

Lunch was over too quick. After our conversation, I was super happy to have talked to her so much.

I'm in the friend zone. Next step- don't stay there.


	3. Chapter 3: Study Hall

I made my way down the hallway, carrying my guitar, my backpack (which, by the way, was really heavy), and my huge folder. I had a ton of homework. Even if it was the weekend. I guess these teachers don't back down.

It was the last day of the first week of school, and last-period on Fridays was a free period. I was going down to my History teacher, Mr. Hawkins's room where there was a study hall going on. I had kind of managed to figure out where each room was, but still had gotten lost a few times this week.

I suddenly heard a distant sound. What was it? A piano playing. Hmm. It was very quiet, and coming from the music room. I looked around. Nobody in sight. I followed the noise.

When I got to the music room, I stood outside the door. It was a girl, playing the piano and singing "Payphone" by Maroon 5. She sounded too young to be Ms. Lee, our choral director and music teacher, so she was definitely a student.

I listened to the voice a little more. She was good, really good. Her voice was lower- she was probably a mezzo-soprano, but she could still hit the high notes. I found myself humming the harmony softly. Suddenly I realized something- I know this voice.

Cadence. Oh, my God, it's her. I went right next to the door. She's amazing. As she got to the end, I shyly and slowly poked my head through the door.

She was sitting at the piano. Her backpack was on the ground next to her, and when she saw me, she jumped three feet off the bench.

"What're you doing here?" she asked, her cheeks going a deep pink.

"I heard you playing and thought you sounded awesome, so I followed the sound... I didn't realize it was you until a minute ago..."

She was silent for a moment, obviously not pleased with my entry. She crossed her flippers.

"I think your voice is beautiful," I said softly.

She blushed even more. "Really?"

I nodded shyly. "I can sing harmony to that song if you want."

"You can?" she asked softly.

I nodded. "I really think you sound amazing. You told me you were all right, but obviously you were lying, because you're more than all right..."

She uncrossed her flippers, giving me a small smile. "You think I'm good?"

"I think you're more than just good."

We looked at each other for a moment. She had on a light-pink long-sleeved shirt that made her hair stand out even more than it already did.

Her little smile got bigger. "What were you doing before you found me?"

"Going to study hall."

"You can leave, if you want."

"Oh... okay." Dissapointed, I started for the door, and waddled out.

"Wait," she called, and I turned, going back into the room. "You don't have to leave..."

"Here, can I sing?" I asked, putting down my stuff and joining her at the piano bench.

She nodded, scooting over. "What song are we singing?"

"Let's just sing 'Payphone' to start."

She nodded. "Okay."

We started singing...

**Both of us:**

_I'm at a payphone trying to call home_

_All of my change I spent on you_

_Where have the times gone?_

_Baby, it's all wrong,_

_Where are the plans we made for two?_

**Her: **

_Yeah, I,_

_I know it's hard to remember_

_the people we used to be_

_It's even harder to picture_

_That you're not here next to me_

_You say it's too late to make it,_

_But is it too late to try?_

_And in that time that you wasted_,

**Both of us:**

_All of our bridges burned down,_

_I've wasted my nights,_

_You turned out the lights,_

_Now I'm paralyzed,_

_Still stuck in that time when_

_We called it love but_

_Even the sun sets in paradise,_

_I'm at a payphone trying to call home_

_All of my change I spent on you_

_Where have the times gone?_

_Baby, it's all wrong_

_Where are the plans we made for two?_

_If happy ever after did exist,_

_I would still be holding you like this_

_And all those fairytales are full of it_

_One more stupid love song, I'll be sick,_

**Me:**

_Ohh,_

_You turned your back on tomorrow,_

_'Cuz you forgot yesterday,_

_I gave you my love to borrow,_

_But you just gave it away,_

_You can't expect me to be fine,_

_I don't expect you to care,_

_I know I said it before, but_

**Both of us:**

_All of our bridges burned down,_

_I've wasted my nights,_

_You turned out the lights,_

_Now I'm paralyzed,_

_Still stuck in that time when_

_We called it love, but_

_Even the sun sets in paradise,_

_I'm at a payphone trying to call home_

_All of my change I spent on you_

_Where have the times gone?_

_Baby, it's all wrong,_

_Where are the plans we made for two?_

_If happy ever after did exist,_

_I would still be holding you like this,_

_And all these fairytales are full of it,_

_One more stupid love song, I'll be sick,_

**Me:**

_Now I'm at a payphone_

**Her:**

_Man, shut your mouth!_

_I'll be out spendin' all this money while you're sittin' 'round _

_wondering why it wasn't you who came up from nothin'_

_Made it from the bottom now when you see me I'm stuntin'_

_And all of my cars start with a push of a button_

_Telling me I changed since I blew up or whatever you call it_

_Switch the number to my phone so you never could call it_

_Don't need my name on my shirt, you can tell that I'm ballin_

_Swish, what a shame could of got picked_

_Had a really good game _

_but you missed your last shot, _

_so you talk about who you see at the top _

_or what you could've saw _

_but sad to say it's over for_

_Phantom pulled up valet open doors_

_Wished I'd go away got what you was lookin for_

_Now it's me who they want _

_so you can go and take that little piece of uhmmm... with you_

**Both of us:**

_I'm at a payphone trying to call home_

_All of my change I spent on you,_

_Where have the times gone?_

_Baby, it's all wrong,_

_Where are the plans we made for two?_

_If happy ever after did exist,_

_I would still be holding you like this,_

_And all these fairytales are full of it,_

_One more stupid love song, I'll be sick,_

_Now I'm at a payphone..._

(Lyrics: . and Dani Cimorelli for the rap edit)

When we finished, we met eyes and started laughing.

"Now it's me who they want so you can go and take that little piece of uhmm... With you!" I cried, and she blushed, still laughing.

"Sorry!" she cried.

"That was awesome!" I said with a grin.

"You have a really, REALLY good voice," she said to me.

I blushed. "Thanks, you too."

"Okay...what song next?" she asked.

This is gonna be the best study hall ever.


	4. Chapter 4: New Friends

I looked around the lunchroom. Where's Cadence? I couldn't see her. I realized I was the only penguin in the whole lunchroom who hadn't taken a seat yet. We had lunch with the juniors today, and there was a clear line between the freshmen and the juniors in the room. They were so much taller and older-looking.

I couldn't find Cadence, and suddenly someone behind me said,

"You wanna sit with us, buddy?"

I turned. Sitting at the table behind me were two guys who were obviously not freshmen. One was red, with brown hair put into a rocker-like style and a t-shirt that was either black or a really dark blue, I couldn't tell. He had on a belt with silver studs on it and a pair of jeans, and wore a cuff that looked like his belt. Next to him was the one who had spoken. He was the shorter of the two and had longer brown hair that was tied up in a red bandana. He was dark-blue and wore a black-and-white plaid collared shirt and a belt with a big gold buckle, and a pair of jeans. He had on brown cowboy boots and looked really country.

"Me?" I asked.

"Yeah," said the blue one. "You can sit with us if you want. This is the cool table." He was country- he had a slight Southern accent.

His friend elbowed him. "Stop bugging him," he muttered.

"I ain't buggin' him," he replied.

I looked around. Where else would I sit? "Sure, I guess I'll sit with you."

I sat down at their table across from them.

"What's your name, bud?" asked the red one.

"I'm Franky," I said in a small voice.

"I'm Will and this is Rob. But call us G-Billy and Stompin' Bob, it's cooler that way," the blue one said with a grin.

I made a mental note to tell Cadence I just found two guys with epic nicknames.

"Those are super-awesome nicknames," I said.

"Thanks! I came up with them," said G-Billy, grinning.

"No, he didn't, he just came up with his own..." Stompin' Bob said.

I smiled shyly. "You guys have cool looks."

"Thanks! So do you! I like your shoes," G-Billy said.

I looked down lamely at my own purple sneakers, jeans, white t-shirt, and green jacket. "This totally doesn't go at all. My mom said for, like, the whole morning that it didn't match. But I think it kinda looks cool."

"I think it looks cool," said Stompin' Bob.

"Thanks," I said.

"So do you like it here? You're a freshman, right?" asked G-Billy.

"Yeah, I'm a freshman. It's cool here," I said.

"What department are you in?" Stompin' Bob asked.

"I'm in music," I said.

"We are, too! That's awesome. What do you play?" G-Billy asked.

"Umm... The piano, the acoustic and electric guitar, the trumpet, the banjo, and the ukulele."

"Geez! That's a lot," he replied with a grin. "I play drums and flute. Don't laugh!"

"I won't," I replied. "Stompin' Bob, what do you play?"

He shrugged. "Umm... the piano, the bass, the giant cello with no bow..."

"A double bass?" I said with a smile.

He nodded. "Yeah. And the guitar a little."

"That's awesome," I said. "Are you guys in Chorus, too?"

"Yeah," G-Billy said. "You?"

"Yeah, but I might drop out of Chorus," I replied.

"Why?!" they both said at the same time.

"Well, I have a really high voice, and I'm the only male soprano the school's ever had. Ever. Ms. Lee had no choice but to put me in the soprano section. It's embarassing."

"That's not something to be embarassed about! It's something to be proud of! You're unique. Cherish it!" G-Billy said. "You should stay in."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

I smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," G-Billy said.

There was a silence as we all ate. Suddenly I saw Cadence. She was sitting across the room with Alexa and a girl in our English class named Jenny. They were talking and giggling. I grinned, watching Cadence for a minute. Then Stompin' Bob noticed I was looking beyond the table and turned.

"What're you looking at?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Looks to me like he was lookin' at those ladies," G-Billy said with a grin, having noticed me too.

I blushed. "No-"

"Which one is it? The yellow one, the peach one, or the light-blue one?" he asked. The yellow one was Alexa and the light-blue one was Jenny. Obviously the peach one was Cadence.

I shook my head. "None of them."

"That peach one has whacked hair," he said, half to himself, and half to Stompin' Bob.

"Yeah," Stompin' Bob said with a nod.

"You're staring that way, Franky. Is it one of them?" G-Billy asked after a moment.

"No, I just can't stop looking at that girl's hair. It's so bright," I said.

They both laughed. "Yeah, it is," G-Billy said.

Saved...

"So anyway..." Stompin' Bob began as we all turned away, "Franky, G-Billy and I are in a band."

My face lit up. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah, one of the seniors is in it with us. We call ourselves the Penguin Band," he said.

"That's so cool!" I cried. "What kind of a band are you?"

"Uhmm, everything, really. We mostly focus on country, pop, and rock," G-Billy said.

I laughed. "You're an everything band!"

"Yeah," Stompin' Bob said with a grin.

"It's really fun," G-Billy said. "We're working on a cover of 'One More Night' by Maroon 5. You know that song?"

"I love that song!" I said.

G-Billy laughed. "We do, too."

"So who's the third member of your band?" I asked.

"Umm, a senior named Peter. You might've seen him. He's green, blond hair, glasses... he's always wearing a beanie of one color or another... I think it's maroon today..." G-Billy said.

I racked my brain. "I don't think I've seen him."

"Oh. You might see him eventually. He's awesome, really funny. He's graduating this year. We don't know what we're gonna do after he graduates," G-Billy replied.

"A record deal is our DREAM. But we have no idea where and how we'd get one," Stompin' Bob said.

"Yeah, I've heard it's ridiculously hard to get one," I said.

"It is," G-Billy said with a nod.

"Who wants a cookie?" Stompin' Bob asked, holding up a container with four chocolate chip cookies in it.

"Me!" G-Billy cried, grabbing the container and taking one out. He handed me one, too, and Stompin' Bob took one.

"Mmmmm, who made these?" G-Billy asked, with his mouth full of cookie. I took a bite. They were really good cookies.

"PH," Stompin' Bob said with a grin and a blush.

"They're good!" I said. "Is PH, like, your sister or something?"

"No, his crush-" G-Billy said, and Stompin' Bob slapped his flipper over his cookie-filled beak.

"PH is... my neighbor," Stompin' Bob explained.

I smiled. "She makes good cookies."

"I'll tell her."

"I love cookies," G-Billy said, taking the last cookie. Stompin' Bob tried to stop him, but before he could, the cookie was in his beak.

Smiling to myself, I thought:

I think I just made a couple new friends.


	5. Chapter 5: Classes, Charles, Cupcakes

I sighed, following Cadence out of the English room. "Third period over. One more to go till lunch," I said to her. She giggled.

"I'm starving!" she said.

"Me, too. Sit with me today?" I asked.

She nodded. "Sure. I have a cupcake today. I'll split it with you."

I smiled. "You don't have to..."

"You told me you love cupcakes! I made some over the weekend," she said.

I blushed. "Cool."

Suddenly a penguin came up behind the two of us. We both turned. It was Charles, that popular kid from Cadence's middle school. Today, he had on a green t-shirt. His blond hair was perfectly combed and he had on black high-tops.

He smiled at Cadence. "Hey, good-lookin'," he said to her. I went bright-red and awkwardly shrunk away.

What the heck?

Watching from a distance away, I listened. "Hi, Charles," she said.

"That class was so boring," he said.

She shrugged. "It was alright."

"So listen, I've been sitting with guys at lunch lately, but I thought maybe today we could spend a little time together?" He poked her in the beak.

It could be my crazy insecure self, but I thought I saw her step back a little. "Umm, that's very nice of you, Charles, but I just told somebody else I would sit with them."

'Yeah, me.' I thought. 'Back off, Popular Boy.'

"Who could be more important than your favorite guy?" asked Charles.

"Charles, we've been over this."

"At least tell me who you're sitting with."

"...I'm sitting with Franky. Y'know...yellow...sits with me in English and Spanish..."

Charles looked disgusted. "That kid? The guy soprano?!"

I felt myself going bright red.

"Yes, Charles. The guy soprano. He's very sweet and we have a lot in common," Cadence said.

Now I was red because I was blushing. Cadence called me sweet!

"But he's so... not me..." Charles said.

Cadence sighed. "Charles, I've been over this a million times."

Charles rolled his eyes and Cadence waddled away.

Charles looked around. By now penguins had cleared out. Soon he was alone in the hallway- alone except for me, standing to the side.

He looked at me, then lunged at me, shoving me up against the lockers. He looked annoyed and frustrated.

"Who do you think you are?!" he asked.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, trying to push free, but he was strong.

"I want to know why you've been hanging out with Cadence lately," he said.

"I-I- I just wanted to be her friend..." That was a lie, but I didn't want to get beat up in the second week of school.

"Just her friend, huh? Let me tell you something, kid. No guy is gonna be friends with her but me. Stay away from her. You hear me?"

"Why are you freaking out?! I was only trying to make a friend. Because unlike you, I could use some friends," I said. I pushed him off of me and hurried away.

"Get back here, kid!" he cried, but I kept going and didn't look back.

At Lunch:

I waddled into the lunch room, holding my lunch bag and feeling a little shaken up after what happened with Charles after third-period.

Cadence was sitting alone, and Charles was with his usual mob of girls. We had lunch with the sophomores, and they were sitting with each other.

Cadence saw me and waved me over. I sat down across from her awkwardly.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi, Franky," she replied. "Listen, we gotta talk..."

"So Charles is your boyfriend, huh?" I said.

Cadence sighed. "Charles is a complicated topic. It's a long story."

"Tell me," I said.

She took a breath. "So Charles has been in schools with me since 3rd grade. At first he was nice to everyone. And I was his friend. I was in 3rd grade and I didn't want a boyfriend. So we were just friends, and it was okay. But then in 4th guys started to get interested in me. I knew that Charles had a crush on me, but I really didn't want to have a boyfriend. He kind of started being mean to every guy who talked to me. And that got me kinda weird. I stopped really talking to him, and from that point on he just got meaner. It wasn't just guys now, it was girls too. I think my giving up on him kinda made him ticked. All through 4th, 5th, and 6th grade it kinda continued. In the end of 6th grade, I decided if I started talking to him again, he'd stop being mean. Well, that convinced him that I liked him. Even though I really didn't want anything to do with boys, he kinda started treating me... well, the way you saw him talk to me in the hallway. But the meanness continued. And it's still going on."

I met her eyes. "So you're not dating?"

She shook her head. "He thinks we are, though, and it's really embarassing. Did he say anything to you after I left?"

I shrugged. "He shoved me up against the locker and yelled at me for a minute, but I didn't wanna deal with his crap, so I got outta there."

Her eyes widened. "He really yelled at you?"

"Well, not so much yelled. But he was very firm."

She nodded. "Okay..."

She reached into her lunch bag and took out a wrap, again, a little bag of strawberries, and a Tupperware container with a cupcake in it. I had a PB+J as usual, a bag of saltine crackers, and a couple Oreos.

Today she had on a white shirt with purple and pink dots on it. She still had that scarf, those shoes, and those wristband things that she'd worn every day this week and last week. Her face was so pretty. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but that'd be rude and awkward.

Ohhh, Cadence, when are you gonna figure out that I'm madly in love with you?

She took the cupcake out of the container, then cut it in half with a plastic knife in her bag. She looked over the halves carefully, then gave me a piece. After a second I realized that she had given me the big piece, and I blushed.

The cupcake was really good-looking. It was vanilla on the bottom, chocolate on the top with white frosting that had Oreo bits in it, and an Oreo in the middle of the cupcake.

"Wow, this looks yummy," I said. "Are you sure you don't wanna have it all?"

She shook her head. "I have 11 more at home. You can have this whole one if you want."

"No, no, you should have some."

We sat there eating our sandwiches for a minute, then she slammed her head on the table.

"Dang it!"

"What?" I asked.

"We have Science after lunch."

I laughed.


	6. Chapter 6: Here's My Number

"Ahhh, Free Period Fridays," Cadence said, taking her backpack out of her locker and smiling at me.

"I know, right? Where do you wanna go?" I asked her. I was carrying my guitar and had my backpack over my shoulder. She closed her locker, shrugging.

"Study hall and pretend to work?"

I laughed. "I thought maybe we could go to the music room again."

She smiled. "Really, you wanna?"

I shrugged. "Kinda. Do you?"

She nodded. "I was hoping you'd want to."

So we made our way to the music room, talking all the way. When we got there, it was empty again, and we went in. I grabbed my folder with all my songs and covers out of my backpack, and she got a big purple notebook with pink stick-on gems on the front.

We sat together on the piano bench, and our hips were touching. I don't think she noticed it, because she didn't move, but I did, and it sent a swoop through my stomach.

She looked up at me with a smile. "So what do you want to sing?"

"Sing me a song you've written," I said.

She blushed. "But they're all terrible."

"I don't care," I said.

She sighed, flipping through the notebook to a page that said "I Can't" on the top. She put it up on the music stand and started to play.

Now I'm not just saying this because I have a giant crush on her- it was AMAZING. The piano part alone was really good, and when she sang, it just cascaded it to a whole new level. The song was obviously about Charles and all her struggles with him.

When she finished, I gave her a giant hug. It seemed to surprise her, but I couldn't hold myself back.

"Cadence!" I cried, pulling away. "That was amazing!"

She blushed. "Oh, thank you, Franky. It's really not that good."

"Yes, it is!" I cried, beaming.

She blushed for a minute, then said, "Okay, now you play me something."

"Okay." I hopped off the piano bench, took out my guitar, and made sure it was in tune, sitting down on the chair next to the piano. It was, and I looked through my folder. Most of my songs lately were about Cadence. I took one out that was less gushy, called "Something Special". I had written it last Friday night, and it was pretty good.

As I played, I watched her face. It went from excited to concentrated to smiling to beaming. When I was done, it was her turn to hug me. This wasn't just a hug, it was like she jumped on me. We even almost fell off the chair, and she squeaked, but I grabbed her and said, "I gotcha, don't worry."

She pulled away from the hug, still wrapped up in my flippers and balancing carefully on the edge of the chair. "That was epic!"

I blushed. "Aw, thanks."

"No, really! I'm surprised you don't have a record deal yet! That was amazing!"

"Oh, thanks, Cadence. You're pretty awesome too."

"Not like you are! Your voice is bea-U-tiful!"

I smiled at her for a moment. I thought this might be a good time to tell her I liked her, but just then, she spoke again.

"Will you sing some more for me? I think I'm addicted to the sound of your voice."

I laughed. "Addicted to my voice?"

She shrugged. "More or less."

I laughed, and she got off of me, sitting back down on the piano bench facing me. I wanted her to sit back down where she'd just been, holding onto me like that, but I knew if I asked her it'd get awkward.

I played her a couple more of my originals. I think she was getting the message that I liked her by now, but she didn't say anything. After I played her a couple originals, I played her a couple of my best cover songs, then we say back down at the piano and she played for me a little bit. She sang one more original, then did a couple covers of her own, including "Fighter", which, by the way, was AMAZING.

The period ended too soon. When it did, we packed up our stuff and headed to the dismissal area.

As we were going down the hall, I said, "Hey, listen, this was really fun."

She nodded. "For sure. You really are talented, Franky."

"So are you," I replied.

There was a pause, then she said, "Could I get your number?"

I went bright red, but my insides were screaming, 'YESS!'

"Sure, yeah." We stopped waddling and I reached into my bag, pulling out a paper and pen. I wrote down my number on it, put a little smiley face under it, and wrote 'Call me maybe!'. I gave it to her, and she laughed. "I'll call you over the weekend, okay?" she said.

"Okay. Can I have yours?" I asked.

She nodded. "Of course." She tore off a piece of the paper and wrote her number on it, giving it to me. Under it, she had drawn a smiley face, too. And it could've been me, but I thought I saw a little heart under where she had written the last number.

"Thanks," I said, putting it in my jeans pocket. "I'll call you...whenever."

She grinned. "Tonight, if you're bored." We started down the hallway again.

"All right," I said.

"We should hang out sometime, Franky," she said.

I beamed. Could this day get any better?


	7. Chapter 7: Is This A Dream?

"First one to the car gets shotgun!" I cried, taking off towards my mom's car. Cadence ran after me.

I beat her to the car and pulled open passenger door. Laughing, she came up behind me.

"No fair, you got a head start!" she said.

"Yeah?" I asked, grinning and putting my backpack and guitar on the ground in front of the seat.

"Yeah," she said, pulling open the backseat door.

"Franky," my mom said, "Go in the back."

"Awww, why?" I asked.

"Because we have a guest and you're not going to leave her alone in the back."

I sighed. "Fine..."

Cadence and I got in the back, and we started driving.

"Hi, Mrs. Jones," Cadence said.

"Hi, Cadence! It's nice to meet you," Mom said.

"Hi, Franky!" I said to myself, and Cadence giggled.

"It's nice to meet you, too," Cadence said, grinning.

"Franky talks all about you," Mom continued. I went red.

"Mo-om," I said.

"He does?" Cadence asked with a blush and a smile.

"Oh, all the time."

"Cool." Cadence nodded.

Some really '80's song was playing, and I reached for the radio controls. "What is this, 1980?" I asked, switching the station.

"Hey, that was a good song!" my mom said. "Classic!"

"But this song rocks!" I cranked the radio. 'Gangnam Style' was playing. Cadence laughed as my mom got a confused expression on her face.

"Rappers these days. They make it so it sounds like they're speaking a different language!"

Cadence met my eyes and we both started laughing. "Mom, this song is in Korean," I said, turning the radio down a little.

"Oh." She paused. "Explains a lot."

Cadence bopped to the beat. We were right next to each other, and she was slightly leaning towards me.

"So how was school?" Mom asked.

"Typical Friday. Slow," I said.

Cadence laughed. "So true."

"Do you have homework?"

"Nope!" I cried proudly. "Mr. Olson was sick, so we had a study in Math. I got it all done!"

"You, too, Cadence?"

Cadence shrugged. "I have Science and Math."

"That sucks," I said, leaning back.

Cadence rolled her eyes, grinning.

"What did you do in free period?" Mom continued.

"Uh, study hall. We worked really hard. Got a ton done," I lied, grinning.

Cadence elbowed me. "No, we didn't."

Mom laughed. "What did you do?"

"We went to the music room," Cadence explained.

"Oh, cool! Have fun?"

"Yeah!" Cadence and I said at the same time.

We talked for the rest of the ride home, then when we got home, we dropped our stuff in the mudroom and went to the kitchen.

My mom looked at us. "You guys can do whatever. Franky's dad will be home soon."

"C'mon, come see my room," I said, tugging at Cadence's flipper. We went upstairs together.

My room was messy, but Cadence didn't seem to mind. The bed was against the left wall, and the walls were painted blue-and-yellow. There was a yellow carpet on the floor, and a light-blue beanbag in the bottom right corner. I had a poster of Left to Right, one of my favorite bands, on the wall. Near the beanbag was a giant stack of cover papers, notebooks, and whatnot, and there was a guitar stand, a music stand, and an amp there too. My dresser was right at the end of my bed, and my closet was near the beanbag area. There were music books scattered across the room, and a nightstand next to the bed. There was a blue lamp on the nightstand, and I turned it on. My sketch pad and colored pencils sat in a basket-type container below my bed.

"I love your room!" Cadence exclaimed, going in. I put my guitar over near the beanbag area, and tossed my big songbook over there, too.

"Thanks," I said with a grin, taking off the brown cowboy hat I'd been wearing all day and hanging it on my bedpost.

"Left to Right. I love them." She waddled over to my poster. "Your voice reminds me of Alex Pierce's." Alex Pierce was the frontman of that band.

I nodded. "He inspires me."

She grinned. "Gee, you keep this place pretty tidy, huh?"

"No. Look at this." I gestured to the beanbag area.

"My room's much worse, trust me."

I grinned.

She looked at me. "Hey, Franky?"

"Yeah?" I asked, closing my bedroom door behind me.

"I... I didn't think I'd be going to a guy's house the third week of high school."

"Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"No, no, what I was going to say was... I really appreciate you accepting me. Not many penguins do, you know. Between my hair and my dad's whole pirate thing and my Charles issue..."

I grinned. "I accept you because you're nice, you're funny, and you're pretty. I don't care about your hair. I think your hair's awesome. I don't care about your dad, because we all have weird parent issues. And I don't care that you're going through a Charles issue."

She blushed. "You think I'm pretty?"

"Are you kidding? Gosh, Cadence, you're gorgeous."

Smiling, she said, "No guy has ever called me pretty. Ever."

"Not even Charles?"

She shook her head. "Never."

"Well, no guy you know has good eyesight, then."

She grinned.

"C'mon, I wanna show you something." I took out my sketchpad and sat down on the beanbag. She sat down next to me, watching me flip through the pages.

I stopped at a drawing of her I'd made on the first day of school. She was wearing the outfit I'd met her in, and she was smiling, one flipper on her hip, the other hanging down. "I drew this the first day of school."

"I look cool," she said, smiling and leaning towards me.

I laughed. "Yeah." I flipped the page. This time it was her sitting next to me at lunch that first time we sat together. She was giggling at something, and I was smiling.

"Franky, you're a good artist."

"Aww, thanks," I said.

We went through a bunch of my drawings, then started messing around with my guitar. I played until my flipper hurt, about an hour. Then I tried to teach her to play. She kind of picked up, but she told me she should stick with piano and clarinet.

We ate dinner with my parents and made casual conversation about school, Cadence's parents, stuff like that.

Later, we watched some TV and I actually got her to touch my flipper and stay there. We weren't holding flippers, but it was almost there. She didn't seem to want to make it super serious, so I didn't push it.

At about 8:45, her mom came to pick her up. She hugged me on my porch and we said good-bye.

At the end of the night, I was going to bed and I realized something:

I just might have a girlfriend.

Holy fish.


	8. Chapter 8: The Band

"So..." I said to Cadence as she put her stuff in her locker. "Music room at extra help? I just wrote this new song and I really want you to hear it..."

She sighed. "I'd love to, Franky, but Ms. Angelini said I have to go and get help on this lesson we had in Science."

"Aww. I'll be bored!" I said.

She sighed. "Sorry..."

"It's okay. I'll see you later, alright?"

"See you at lunch." She headed down the hall.

Well, I'm bored. I guess I could still go mess around in the music room, but it wouldn't be the same without Cadence there...

Still, better than doing nothing...

I went to my locker and got my guitar, songbook, and folder, then headed down the hall.

When I got to the music room, I realized there was someone in there. Actually, three someones.

It was three guys, with someone playing an electric guitar that didn't have an amp attached to it. Someone was playing the piano, too, and the last one was hitting a tambourine. They were singing "One More Night" by Maroon 5 in harmony. I paused, standing outside the door. They were good.

Suddenly they stopped. One of them said, "Why do we all have to have low voices? None of us can hit that and we all know it."

"Way to be an optimist, Billy."

"Hey, I'm just speaking the truth..."

Billy?!

Like, the Billy I talked to at lunch a week or two ago?

"Guys, cut it out. Can we run it one more time? Then we'll do something else, I promise."

"Okay, c'mon.."

I listened to them for a minute. As they finished the song, I shyly poked my head through the door.

It was them! Stompin' Bob was behind the piano, and G-Billy had the tambourine. The one with the electric guitar was green and I figured he had to be Peter.

Stompin' Bob noticed me. "Guys, we have a shadow."

"Huh?" said Peter.

"Look." He pointed to me, and the other two guys turned to me. I went red.

"I'm sorry. I just was coming here to use the piano...I didn't realize someone was here," I said.

"That's alright, buddy! Petey, this is Franky. Remember we told you about him?" G-Billy said.

Peter nodded. "Yeah. Hey, Franky. I'm Peter, but call me Petey K."

"Nice to meet you," I said, a little softly.

He grinned. "Do we sound okay?"

"You sound awesome. I love this song," I said.

Stompin' Bob grinned. "We do, too."

"I'll buzz off now..." I started to leave, but G-Billy said, "Wait, stay and listen."

I looked at him. "Really?"

He nodded. "Sure! I mean, if Band Leader Supreme is okay with it." He turned to Stompin' Bob with a grin.

Stompin' Bob smiled. "Yeah, stay."

I grinned, coming into the room. "This is really nice of you guys," I said.

"We never get someone to sit in. It's a nice change," Stompin' Bob said.

I put my guitar and stuff on a bench and sat down. "Just pretend I'm not here so you don't get distracted..."

He laughed. "Okay. One more time, guys."

They started, and I noticed they were missing a line of the harmony. I started to sing it softly, trying not to mess them up. They didn't seem to notice me, and as the song ended, G-Billy hit the tambourine and cried, "Bam! Eat that, Mike."

"Who?" I asked.

"Oh, this mean guy in our grade..." he replied. "Don't get me started."

"Okay," I said with a grin.

"Guys, I thought that sounded awesome. Almost like.. Petey K...were you singing that high harmony?" Stompin' Bob said.

"No..." Petey K said.

Uh-oh, he did hear me.

"Did you..?" he asked, turning to G-Billy. He shook his head.

"That was me," I said shyly. "I'm sorry, I didn't think I was singing that loud."

"You sounded good! Don't be sorry!" Stompin' Bob said.

"Here, can you try to sing the thing in the beginning...the 'ooh-ooh...'?" Petey K said.

"Wait, what do you mean?" I asked.

"Can you take this over for me?" he asked. "Because I can't hit the notes..."

I went red. "I can try..."

"I'll back you," he said.

I nodded, and he played me the beginning. I sang the main line, and G-Billy and Stompin' Bob joined in. They gave me backup and let me sing lead the whole song. As we finished, Petey K lifted his flippers over his head and clapped.

"Dang it, buddy, your voice is awesome!" he said. I blushed.

"Oh, thank you," I said softly.

"Yeah, that rocked," Stompin' Bob said. "You sound really good with us."

I grinned. "I've never sing with a band."

"You're good at it!" G-Billy said.

"Thanks," I said.

"Let's sing a new song," Stompin' Bob said.

"Let's do 'Breakeven'!" Petey K said.

"I love that song," I said.

"Same," Petey K said with a grin.

"Wanna sing that?" Stompin' Bob asked.

G-Billy whacked the tambourine. "Let's do this!"

"Franky, you can sing lead again if you want," Stompin' Bob said.

I nodded. "Okay."

We sang a bunch of songs, then extra help ended and we had lunch. There were two cafeterias in the school (It was a pretty huge school.). Today we had lunch with the sophomores (of course). At the very end of extra help, as we were heading out of the music room, Stompin' Bob pulled me aside from G-Billy and Petey K. They went a little ahead of us, and he said,

"Franky, you're ridiculously good."

"Are you serious? Or are you just saying that because I'm a freshman and I'm small?" I said.

"No, I'm serious."

"Thanks."

"Do you wanna come to our rehearsal tomorrow?"

"Really? You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it. It's at free period in the auditorium."

"They let you do that?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Wanna come?"

I racked my brain. Nothing to do at free period on Thursdays...I don't think... nope. "Sure, I'll come. If you're serious."

"Buddy, I don't lie."

"Oh, gosh. Thank you. I'll be there."

He grinned. "See you there?"

I nodded, grinning.

"Okay, go to lunch. Your lady friend is waiting."

"Wait, what?!" I said.

He laughed. "I've had lunch with your grade before. I see you and that girl."

I blushed. "Yeah, we sit together a lot."

"You like her?"

"Well..." I was blushing now.

"You can tell me. I'll tell you who I like."

I smiled. "Yeah, I like her."

He smiled, too. "I like my neighbor. Y'know...she makes the cookies..."

I laughed. "I knew something was up. G-Billy was making fun of you."

"He always does." He grinned. "Don't tell anyone."

"I won't, s'long as you don't tell anyone about me.

"I won't."

"Okay. Thanks, Stompin' Bob."

"You can call me Stomp. And you're welcome."

I nodded as he went up ahead to catch up with Petey K and G-Billy.

Thursday. Free period.

I'm going to rehearse with a band.

This is awesome.


	9. Chapter 9: There are TWO of them?

I woke up and my first thought was: I'm going to rehearse with a band today!

I looked at my alarm clock. It was 6:36, which was early for me. We usually leave for school around 7:20, because we're supposed to be there at 7:30. Classes don't start until 8, but we have to be there early to catch up on things.

Yeah, because I need to catch up on things for a half an hour, I thought as I rolled over.

I picked up my phone. There were a couple new texts. Two were from Cadence. The first one, which she must have sent after I went to sleep last night, said:

'night Franky ;)'

Blushing, I smiled. The other one was from 5 minutes ago and said:

'it's almost Friday! yay'

I grinned and typed:

'finally.'

I put my phone down and rolled over, sitting up in bed. The yellow feathers on my head were messy. I had on a blue button-up PJ top with long sleeves.

Getting ready in the morning usually takes forever, but I was dressed in about 5 minutes. I had on a pair of jeans, my red-and-white sneakers, and a red hoodie. It looked a little chilly out.

I brushed my teeth, made my bed, and did all those other annoying morning chores that everyone hates, then grabbed my guitar and went downstairs. My parents were both down already. My dad was eating a banana at the kitchen table, and my mom was at the coffee pot.

"Can I have coffee?" I asked.

My dad grinned. "Sure." I knew he was joking, but it was funny.

My mom gave him a disapproving look. "No, Franky, you cannot have coffee."

"Awww." I sat at the table and poured myself a bowl of Cheerios. Taking the milk out of the fridge, I said. "How come?"

"Because you're 14," Mom replied.

"And?" I asked, pouring some milk into my bowl and starting to eat.

"14-year-olds don't need coffee."

"Petey K drinks coffee," I pointed out.

"Who?" she asked.

"Y'know, he's in the band I'm going to rehearse with today...?"

"Oh. Well, how old is he?"

"A senior."

"Good. When you're a senior, you can drink coffee."

"Junior."

"Senior."

"Fine."

I continued to eat. "Who's driving me?"

"I am," Dad replied.

I nodded. "Kay."

After I ate, I hung around until about 7:20, when I said bye to Mom and got in the car.

It'd started raining. As we pulled out of the driveway, I said,

"Hey, Dad?"

He looked over at me. "Yeah?"

"Do you have girl advice for me?"

He laughed. "Girl advice? Out of all advice, you ask me for girl advice?"

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing, buddy, just I don't think I'd be good at giving girl advice. I never had girlfriends 'til me and your mom started dating."

"Oh," I said softly.

"You're real serious about Cadence, then, huh?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, I mean, she's just like me, Dad. I really like her."

He smiled. "How much?"

"A lot." I paused. "You met her. Tell me what you think of her."

"Well, I only met her that one time...but she seems like a really nice girl."

"She is. And I really like her. But... how do I tell her that? I don't want her to be, like... scared."

"Don't you have a Halloween Dance coming up at the end of the month?"

"... Yeah, I think so."

"Ask her to it. If she says yes, you're in."

"But what if she says no?"

"It seems like you two are pretty good friends. Ask her to go as friends. Then, when the slow songs come on, ask her to dance with you."

"I can't dance."

"Can she?"

I nodded.

"Then let her lead. Slow dancing is easy."

I grinned. "Okay."

"That help?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Dad."

"No problem."

When we got to school, I said bye to him, got my stuff, and hopped out of the car. I started for the school entrance as he drove away.

As I headed in, I went down the crowded hall. Not really paying any attention, I accidentally slammed into a penguin.

"I- I'm sorry!" I cried. He was tall and light-blue. He had hair the color of my skin and a black leather jacket with jeans. He looked unimpressed.

"Watch it, kid," he said, shoving me to the side.

"Hey!" I cried.

"Don't 'hey' me," he said, coming up to me. Oh, God.

Suddenly a light-blue penguin who was a little shorter than him came up behind him. "Mike-"

Charles.

Great. Just great.

Charles trailed off when he saw me. "Ah, Mike, I see you've gotten the pleasure of meeting our grade's biggest wimp. Frank,-"

"Franky," I said softly.

"Whatever. This is my brother, Mike. He's a junior and he's not afraid to pound your skull in. So my advice is don't mess with either of us." Charles crossed his flippers.

"Is this the punk that was tryin' to steal Cadence from you?" Mike asked Charles.

Charles nodded. "Yup."

"I wasn't, honest-" I said, but Mike cut me off.

"Listen here, kid. Nobody messes with us and gets away with it."

"I wasn't trying to mess with you-" I said. This time it was Charles who cut me off.

"Don't care. Listen, I've seen you with Cadence. Didn't I tell you to back off?"

"Listen, Charles," I said slowly. "If Cadence likes someone else, there's nothing you can do about it."

"She likes someone else? Who?!" he cried.

"I don't know. That's not what I meant. My point is-"

"Tell me who she likes."

"I don't know, Charles."

"You're lying. Tell me."

"I'm not lying."

"Yes, you are." The hallway was less crowded now.

"No, I'm not. The point is, sometimes the girl you like isn't always gonna like you back."

"Shut up. What do you know about love? What could a girl ever see in you?"

"... I don't know! Listen to me, I'm trying to make a point."

Mike grabbed me by the hood. "Shut your trap and let my brother talk."

"I-" I began, but Mike tugged at my hoodie. It hurt on my throat and I coughed.

"Listen, I'm going to say this to you one time and one time only. Stay away from her," Charles said.

"N-no," I said softly.

There was a silence. Charles widened his eyes. "No? Did you seriously just tell me no?!"

"Leave me the heck alone," I said.

"Don't you dare tell me no."

Charles looked like he was gonna slap me, but just then there was a call of, "Hey!"

Mike and Charles turned. I looked over in the direction of the noise, too.

It was... oh, thank God, it was G-Billy, and next to him, Stompin' Bob. They were making their way over.

"Oh, lovely...look who it is..." Mike said, dropping my hood.

Ah. I can breathe again.

"What do you think you're doing?" G-Billy said as he and Stompin' Bob got to us.

"We were just teaching this punk a little lesson," Mike said. "It's none of your business, Little Will."

G-Billy went red, and Stomp took over. "That 'little punk' happens to be our friend," he said.

"Oh, God. Seriously, Rob? First Will, then Peter, now him. You have so much potential to be a cool kid, why do you pick the suckiest kids in the school as your friends?" Mike said.

"First of all, don't call my friends sucky. Second of all, I don't want to be a cool kid because all the so-called 'cool kids' are mean. Third, get your flippers off Franky and get the heck out of here," Stomp said. I had never heard him talk to much before.

Mike laughed. "I can't believe you actually think you have authority over me."

Stompin' Bob looked really mad rigt now. "Buzz. Off."

"No," Mike said. "Don't tell me what to do, or I swear on my brother's name, I'll find that stupid animal freak girl that you're so madly in love with and I'll take out all my anger on her."

This was serious now. I saw it in Stompin' Bob's face.

"I swear to God, Mike, if you lay so much as a feather on PH, you won't even know what hit you."

He laughed again. "52 Ashburn Road..." I figured that had to be either Stompin' Bob or PH's address.

Stompin' Bob tried to keep his voice low. "If we weren't in school, I'd smack you so hard right now," he said slowly.

"I'd love to see you try," Mike said.

"Fine. Maybe I will."

"Fine. It's on. This Saturday at noon, meet me and Charles on the corner of Wave Street and Black Road. And bring your idiot friends."

"Which friends?"

"Him." Mike pointed to G-Billy. "And Peter. And your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend. And if you think I'm bringing her along to a fight, you're crazy."

"St-Stomp, I don't think this is such a good idea..." G-Billy said softly.

"Of course it's a good idea. It's a way to fight without having to get busted by teachers," Charles said. "And y'know what? Why don't you bring Softy here along too?" He pointed to me.

"M-me?!" I said.

"Yeah." Mike nodded. "You."

"This is not a good idea," G-Billy said.

"You're coming," Mike said. "And so is Charles. I'll bring... 2 friends."

"Petey isn't gonna want to come," G-Billy said.

"He's coming. If you're feeling bold, bring an extra man. We'll still win."

"We'll see about that," Stompin' Bob said. Just then, the bell rang for first-period.

"Let's go," G-Billy said to Stompin' Bob. "See you at free period, Franky," he said to me as they waddled away.

"I'll see you later, Charles," Mike said, heading down a hallway. Watch your step," he said to me, dissapearing around a corner.

That left me and Charles. "Watch your back, more like," Charles said.

"Charles, I'm not trying to pick a fight," I said.

"Well, you picked one," he said, taking off down the hall.

What a great start to the day.


	10. Chapter 10: Band Practice

After the incident in the morning, the day seemed to drag by, but finally free period arrived and it was time to go find the band.

I headed into the auditorium, where Petey K was sitting on a stool onstage. He had his royal blue electric guitar in his flippers, and it was hooked up to an amp to the right (which was his left). He was on the right side of the stage (left for him) and there was a drumset a little behind him. He had on a brown shirt with short sleeves and a black vest that he wore a lot. His beanie was brown today, and his tan-and-brown shoes were on his flippers. He had short blond-ish hair and wore a pair of white-rimmed glasses with gray lenses.

He waved at me. "Hi, Franky! C'mon up. G-Billy and Stomp are slow."

I laughed softly. "Okay."

I headed up onto the stage. I had brought my folder of random music, my songbook, and my guitar, just in case. Petey K went backstage for a minute and came back with a brown stool like the one he had been sitting on. He put it down on the stage near his stool, then picked up his guitar and sat back down. "You can sit."

I sat down in the stool, and quietly said, "I hope you don't mind that I'm here. I don't want to intrude. I mean, you guys seem like-"

"Franky," he said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You're not intruding. It's a pleasure to have you here. You're really talented. We want to see what we sound like with you. We've never really had one lead singer, y'know? It's a nice change."

I smiled. "Thanks."

He grinned. "No prob."

After a pause, I said, "You...you do know what G-Billy and Stomp got you into this morning, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, they told me at lunch. Are you coming?"

I shrugged. "I don't think my parents would be on board... but... I wanna stand up for myself..."

He nodded. "Yeah, I understand. I really hate to fight, but I feel like if I don't go, A, Mike will assume I chickened out, B, Stomp might be upset, and C, I won't have stuck up for my friend. So I'm going, but I'm gonna try to make sure there's the smallest amount of fighting possible."

"I hate to fight, too. I never know what to say or what to do."

"What was it like this morning? How did it start?"

"Well, clumsy me crashed into Mike on my way down the hall. He told me to watch it or something along those lines, and I said something, and then Charles came and they both started threatening me. I'm kinda the wimp around here lately, and I really didn't know how to get out of it, and that's when G-Billy and Stomp came. They started fighting with Mike, then he said something to Stomp about that he was gonna hurt that girl he likes, and it got personal... Eventually Mike offered to fight somewhere else because we were in school and we'd get in trouble if we didn't, and...yeah."

"Hold up... Mike told Stomp he was gonna hurt PH?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"They didn't tell me that part of the story."

"He said to bring her on Saturday."

"That's harsh."

"I know."

Suddenly there was a call of, "'Sup?" from the auditorium entrance. I looked, and there were Stompin' Bob and G-Billy, both carrying their instruments. For Stompin' Bob, that was a bass guitar, in a black case. For G-Billy, it was a pair of drumsticks.

"You're five minutes late! Not cool," Petey K said with a grin.

"Angelini kept us late," G-Billy said.

"That sucks," Petey K said, putting his guitar on a stand that I hadn't noticed behind him and going backstage again. He came back with a microphone stand and a microphone, and put it at the front of the stage. He hooked it up to the amp that his guitar was attached to, then tapped it as G-Billy and Stomp came up onto the stage.

"Test...test...test... Yeah. It's on," Petey K said, stepping away from the microphone. "C'mere, Franky."

I hopped off the stool and waddled over to Petey K. He lowered the stand to fit my height. "That good?"

I nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

"No problem," he said, going back to his spot.

Once we all got set up, Stomp said, "Guys, can I talk to you before we start?"

I turned to face them.

"Sure," G-Billy said.

"I... I'm sorry I got us all into what I did this morning. I was scared. When Mike threatens you like that, it's scary. When anyone tells you that they're gonna hurt someone you care about, it's just scary. You panic. I can tell him the fight's off if you want."

G-Billy shook his head. "Don't. I'm goin'. Nobody messes with us but ourselves."

Stomp grinned. "Really, you'll go?"

He nodded. "I have some unfinished business with Mike anyway..."

"Awesome," Stomp said.

"I'm going, too," Petey K said. "I don't appreciate Mike threatening any of us. I want to tell him to cut it out."

"So am I," I said. "It's gonna be hard to convince my parents that it's okay to go, but I'll tell them I'm just meeting friends...or something like that... besides, I wanna be there..."

Stomp nodded. "Thanks, guys."

There was a pause. "Now c'mon," Stomp said, "let's rock!"

We started to play. For the whole period, we played. We played all kinds of songs- pop, rock, alternative, their originals, and I even got to play one of mine. The free period ended too quick, and as the time arrived when we had to go, I was sad, but I'd had an awesome time.

"Guys," I said as we were packing up, "thanks for letting me play with you."

"No problem," G-Billy said with a grin.

"Wanna hang out with us at free period tomorrow?" Petey K offered.

Tomorrow... Friday. "Gee, that's really nice of you, but I have an obligation..." The obligation, of course, was Cadence. I couldn't blow her off again if I wanted a chance with her.

"Oh, that's okay. Teachers gotcha booked?" Petey K replied with a smile.

"No... I'm hanging out with a friend," I said.

"Is it that lady friend?" Stomp said, smirking.

I blushed. "She's cute, okay?!"

All three of them laughed.

"Is it pathetic that you're a freshman and you have a girlfriend, but I've never had a girlfriend?" Petey K asked.

"Okay, first of all, she's not my girlfriend-" I started.

"-yet," G-Billy said.

I blushed. "- and no, I've never liked a girl until her. It's not pathetic."

Petey K sighed. "My love life sucks. I'm 17 years old and I haven't had my first kiss yet."

"Take it slow," Stompin' Bob said. "Go with the flow."

"When is this, the 70's?!" G-Billy asked.

"No," Petey K replied.

"I've gotta run," Stomp said as he picked up his bass case (that rhymes!) and started for the exit. "I've got Math. Can't be late or I might get shot with Mr. Olson's laser-eyes."

I laughed. "His eyes are creepy!" Mr. Olson, the Math teacher for the freshmen and juniors, could be nice, but his eyes were a lime-green color and it was scary to look at him.

"Talk about it. See ya later, Petey and Franky. Move your butt, G-Billy, we're gonna get a detention or something!" He headed out the door.

G-Billy went down off the stage. "Guess I should go. Bye, guys. See ya later."

"Bye," Petey K said, and I waved as he took off after Stomp.

Petey K picked up his guitar and came over to me. "Did ya have fun?"

I nodded. "For sure. Thanks so much for letting me come."

"Anytime." He paused. "I'm not the band leader here, but I think you'd be a great addition to the band. Just saying."

"Really?" I asked, picking up my stuff.

He nodded. "Absolutely. You're a great guy and you've got talent, I'm telling you."

I smiled. "Thanks, Petey K."

"You're welcome. I'm gonna talk to Stompin' Bob and G-Billy about maybe you joining the band."

"Seriously?"

"I never kid about this kind of stuff."

"Oh, thank you, thank you."

He smiled. "No problem. I've gotta run, though. See ya!" He headed down off the stage and out the auditorium door, waving to me. I waved at him as he left.

A band.

A real band.

I might be joining a band.

I raised a fist in the air and jumped up.

"Woohooooo!"


	11. Chapter 11: This Is Gonna Be Messy

I yawned, ambling down the stairs. I was exhausted.

My mom was at the stove doing something, and my dad had left for surfing early this morning at 6. It was now 9:10, and I was supposed to be going to the fight in a little less than 3 hours. I was nervous as heck, especially because my mom didn't even know it was a fight. She thought I was just hanging out with the band. It wasn't all a lie, I guess.

I sat down in a chair at the kitchen table and yawned again. I had dressed in a green-and-blue sweatshirt and a pair of jeans.

My mom turned to me. "Good morning," she said. "You look tired."

"You have no idea," I said, rubbing my eyes.

"How come?" she asked.

The actual reason I was tired was because I had been texting Cadence about the whole issue for half the night and had barely slept worrying. And okay, maybe there was a little daydreaming about her involved too. But I wasn't about to tell this to Mom, so I said, "I just couldn't get to sleep last night."

"Oh, that stinks," she said. She was frying something in a pan.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"So what time is Petey K picking you up?" she continued.

Shrugging, I replied, "Around 11:30ish, I think."

"Do you have any cool plans?"

"I have no idea. We might go to the common or something."

"Cool. Who's coming?"

"Me, him, Stompin' Bob, G-Billy..."

"They have such interesting names."

"Those aren't their actual names, Mom."

"Oh, I know, but I'm dying to know where they came up with them."

"Um, G-Billy used to go by Billy, then penguins started calling him Billy G, because his last name starts with G, then someone accidentally called him G-Billy by mistake and he liked it better."

"Ah, so what about the others?"

"Stompin' Bob gets it from the fact that he can't stop stomping. He does it whenever he's singing or playing something that he likes the rhythm of. And I think Petey K's initials are PDK."

She nodded.

I looked around. "I'm hungry."

"It's coming."

"What's coming?"

"Your egg. Want to make yourself some toast or something with it?"

"What egg?" I stood up and looked over her shoulder to see that there was an egg in the pan that she was frying.

"That egg." She pointed to it. "Have some toast or something."

I made my way to the cabinet and pulled out the loaf of bread. I took out two pieces and put them in the toaster, then found the butter and cinnamon-sugar.

Yawning for a third time, I leaned against the counter as my toast toasted. Mom put the fried egg on a plate, putting a little salt and pepper on it and sliding the plate to me. I got a glass out of the cabinet and poured some orange juice into it.

I was already nervous for the fight. I've never fought anyone before. Yesterday during free period, Cadence and I hadn't done a ton of singing because we'd spent a bunch of the period talking about this. She'd been really helpful, and had even given me a hug.

Sigh... oh, Cadence...

I wonder if I have an actual chance with her. I wonder if she actually really likes me at all. Maybe she's just humoring me like she did with Charles.

I shook the thought away. No, no. That's not possible.

Soon I got my toast and ate my breakfast, then went up to my room and started to mess with my guitar. It felt like I'd played five minutes when Mom called up the stairs,

"Franky! Petey K's here!"

What? It can't be 11:30 already. I swear I just picked up this guitar only about ten minutes ago. I checked my alarm clock. 11:32. Wow, I guess time flies when you're anticipating something...

"Coming!" I cried as I put my guitar on the stand and came down the stairs.

Petey K was at the door, wearing a beanie as always. It was white today, and he had on a white short-sleeved t-shirt, jeans, a brown jacket, and those brown-and-tan shoes he wears a lot.

"Hi, Franky," he said. I could hear it in his voice that he was nervous, too.

"Hi, Petey," I said quietly.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

I nodded slowly. "Ready."

"What time do you think you'll be home?" Mom asked.

"Uh, I think around 2," Petey K replied.

She nodded. "Okay. Be safe, Franky. Have fun." She waved and waddled back into the kitchen.

I took a huge breath.

"Okay, now I'll ask you for real," Petey K said softly. "You ready for this?"

I came out the door and we headed down the driveway to his car, which was green and medium-sized. "Nope," I said.

He laughed softly. "Me neither, buddy."

"Here." He opened the passenger door. "You can have shotgun. We gotta go pick up Bob and G-Billy."

I grinned. "Okay."

I hopped into the seat and closed the door. His car was pretty clean. There wasn't stuff on the floors or random gross things everywhere. It was just clean. The interior was tan, and it was nice.

"Okay, a couple things," he said as he took the driver's seat, shut his door, and pulled out of the driveway. He had left the car running while he came in to get me. "First, Mike has some pretty tough friends. If you're gonna take someone on, aim for Charles. You can take him. He seems tough but his weapons are popularity and insults, not real fighting."

I nodded. "Okay."

"Second, if you see an adult that looks responsible, stop whatever you're doing and pretend to be minding your own business."

"You said you hate to fight, but you know a lot about fighting."

"Are you kidding me? No, I don't. It's common sense. The Charles thing I got from Stompin' Bob. I have absolutely no clue how to fight someone."

"Me, neither."

"And third, if she cares about Stompin' Bob at all, I think you're about to meet PH. I'm warning you now, she has a really strong Aussie accent and hates it when she's laughed at for it."

"I don't laugh at that kinda stuff."

"Good."

We drove along the road in silence for a minute, then he reached for the radio panel thing. He turned it to one of my favorite stations and started bobbing his head to the song that was playing. It was one of my favorite songs, too, so I sang along quietly.

"Your voice is really quite beautiful," he said.

I went red, smiling. "You really think that?"

"Yes," he said with a nod. "I do. And I talked with the guys about you joining the band. Can you come to rehearsal at extra help on Monday?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome. We're gonna 'test' you for one more rehearsal and see how it goes."

"Cool."

He nodded. "It'd be awesome to have you join."

I grinned. "It'd be awesome to join."

After a couple more minutes of driving, we arrived at G-Billy's house. It had taken about twenty minutes to get there. His house was medium-sized and painted white. Petey K honked the horn.

"Aren't you gonna go to the door?" I asked.

"Nah. He knows the drill," Petey K said, and sure enough, after a minute, a laughing G-Billy came out the front door and came over to the car. He had on a red t-shirt with a musical design on it that was a bunch of shades of blue, and a pair of dark jeans. He wore blue sneakers and, as always, his red bandana in his hair.

He pulled open the right backseat door and sat down. "Hey, y'all!"

"What's up?" Petey K said.

"Not much," he said, shutting the door and buckling up.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I guess."

"I'm not," I said with a small smile.

"It's okay. These guys may be tough, but we're tougher. Playing the drums is a nice flipper workout, believe it or not." He flexed to demonstrate.

"Dude, Franky doesn't care," Petey K said with a grin as G-Billy put his flippers down.

"Yeah, but some ladies could go by at any second. You gotta be ready."

"You're crazy," Petey K said as he started driving again. We were headed to Stompin' Bob's house last, then to the place where the 'fight' was happening.

We drove for a few minutes, about 7-ish, then pulled onto what Petey K announced to be Stompin' Bob's road.

I couldn't help noticing that all the houses on this road were really small compared to most of the town. They were one-floor houses with small doors and maybe one or two windows in the front. There were trees and forest everywhere here.

We pulled up on the curbside next to a small house painted a maroon color. There wasn't a car in the driveway, but I figured that must be because someone was out. There was a closed garage door, too, so the car might be in there.

Petey K honked again. It took a minute, but Stompin' Bob came out the door. He was wearing a thin-looking black jacket over a dark-gray t-shirt, and jeans with that studded belt he wears a lot. He had his cuff on his flipper, and looked nervous. I waved to him, and he grinned, waving back.

Instead of coming to the car, though, he gestured for us to pull up and started for the house to the left of his. It was painted tan and was about the same size as his.

Petey K pulled up next to that house, and Stomp went to knock on the door. After a second, a short brown man with reddish hair, freckles, glasses, and a brown t-shirt came to the door. Stomp said sonething to him, then he called over his shoulder. Next to him, a shorter brown girl appeared. She had freckles, too, and long brown hair that was in a ponytail and a light-blue sweater over a purple camisole. After a moment of talking to the guy, who must've been her dad, Stomp waved to him as he closed the door, going back into the house as the girl came out.

She was really short, especially compared to Stompin' Bob, who's pretty tall.

Together they came over to the car and got in on the opposite side of G-Billy.

"Hi, guys," Stompin' Bob said, sitting in the middle seat as PH sat to his left and closed the door.

"What's up?" G-Billy asked, doing some secret handshake thing with Stompin' Bob.

"I'm really starting to regret not watching where I was going on Thursday morning," I said, turning to the back. Petey K laughed.

"It's okay, we got this," G-Billy said.

"Franky, this is PH," Stompin' Bob said to me, and PH waved.

"G'day, mate. I've heard about you," she said. She did have an accent.

"I've heard about you, too," I said with a grin. "A lot."

Stompin' Bob went red, but he was still smiling. He put his flipper around the back of her seat. She shot him a look, and he shrugged.

"He's not supposed to do that," she explained.

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because we're not supposed to act like a couple within 200 miles of my father," she said.

Petey K, G-Billy, and I laughed.

"No, it's not funny. It sucks," Stomp said.

"Oh...sorry," I said.

"It's fine," he said, smiling.

"We've heard this story a zillion times," G-Billy said. "They've been best friends since they were five, but her dad doesn't want her dating, so they date in secret..."

"Oh," I said.

"From what I've heard, you have a girlfriend," PH said to me.

"Me?!" I was suddenly redder than the color of Stompin' Bob's house.

"Yeah, you," she said. She was smiling, and I knew she was probably just doing this because Stomp had told her to.

"I have a friend that's a girl... but she's not my girlfriend..."

"Yet," Petey K said.

I sighed. "I give up." Petey K laughed and G-Billy and PH grinned, Stomp kept on that neutral expression that he has on when he's either deep in thought or bored.

We drove for a while. It took about five minutes to get to where we were going. When we got there, we parked on the curbside. It was 11:58 and Mike and his whole crew were already there.

I took a breath. Here we go, I thought as G-Billy and Petey K got out. I got out, too. Stompin' Bob was saying something to PH, and after a minute, he came to join us.

"What, did you tell her to stay in the car?" Petey K asked softly as we approached the group of Mike's friends. I didn't recognize any of them except Mike himself and Charles.

Stomp nodded. "I'm keeping her as safe and away from the fight as possible."

Petey K nodded.

Mike obviously noticed us, and he said,

"Well, look who showed up!" He stepped to the front of his group. There were four of them, counting him and Charles. "I half expected you to wimp out."

"No way," Stompin' Bob said, crossing his flippers.

"I see you've gotten Softy here to come along." He gestured to me.

"Stop calling me Softy," I said.

"Maybe if you weren't such a softie, I'd stop calling you it."

"Not funny," Stomp said.

He looked each of us over. "So where's the girl?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because you said you'd bring her."

"I did NOT."

"Yes, you did."

"No, I didn't."

"Where is she?"

Stomp slowly said, "You don't need to know that, okay? Why are you so obsessed with her?"

"I'm not obsessed with her. For your information, I have a girlfriend."

"Like you don't say it 20 thousand times a day."

"You shut your beak."

"Don't tell me what to do."

There was a silence. It seemed like there was nobody around. We were on the corner of two really trashed, really sketchy streets. The shops were all abandoned and an apartment complex had burned down here a few years ago. I didn't live in the town at the time, but it was all over the news. I knew this was the place where gangs and criminals hung out. It was scary. I felt bad for PH, sitting in the car alone in this area.

I saw Charles giving me a glare. I shrunk back a tiny bit. Apparently, a tiny bit was enough for both Mike and Charles to notice.

"Scared?" Mike asked me. I shook my head.

"Boo," Charles said.

"Quit mocking him," Stompin' Bob said.

"I can mock him if I want. I can slap you if I want. I can dangle your girlfriend by her collar if I want. I can do whatever I want. So I suggest you shut up," Mike said.

"Maybe you should, too," Stomp said.

"I just don't understand it," Mike said. "You could be a cool kid if you wanted to. But you have the worst friends. They rub off on you, I'm telling you."

Stomp was obviously trying to contain his anger. "Don't say that about my friends."

Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Someone's a cranky-pants. What's the matter? Do you miss your girlfriend?" said one of his friends. He was dark-blue with black hair, a green t-shirt, and an evil smile.

"I wouldn't be talking, Kevin. You come to school cranky every single day," G-Billy said.

Stomp laughed. "Niiiice."

This obviously did nothing but make him more mad. "At least I don't sound like I just came out of Redneckville."

G-Billy went red as the four of them laughed.

"And at least I've had my voice change," Kevin continued, turning to me. Now it was my turn to go red.

"Hey!" I said as they kept laughing.

They kept cracking insults to us, basically making fun of everything we did. Mike got really up-close and personal to Stompin' Bob, and he (as in Mike) shoved him.

That's where it got physical. What happened for the next ten minutes or so was a blur to me. Suddenly I was fighting with Charles. I had no idea how to fight, but he wasn't all that great either. We were kinda even, but he managed to best me and get me on the ground. I wasn't about to give up, though. Although not that great a fighter, he was strong, and he had me pinned down good.

I eventually managed to get up, and the physical part of the fight stopped when a car drove by.

Backing away and trying to act natural, I looked at the driver.

Oh, my God.

"Holy-" Stompin' Bob cursed a couple times, then said, "Guys, we gotta run and we gotta run now. That's Mr. Coon."

"Oh, my God." Mike started to go, in a hurry. "This is not over. Trust me."

If there's one thing you don't want to happen while you're fighting in a trashy neighborhood, it's for your principal to drive by.

Luckily, he seemed to be in a hurry and drove right by us, but by now, Mike was already leaving.

"He's gone," G-Billy said.

"Yeah," Mike said, "but he definitely saw us and he'll be back. We gotta go unless we all wanna end up in detention."

"Good plan," said Charles.

"This is not over," Mike said again, then the four of them took off.

I looked down at myself. I was a little dirty and there was a scrape on my flipper from when I tried to catch myself when Charles had knocked me over. But I was okay. Petey K was just a little dirty too, and so was G-Billy. Stomp was the worst- Mike had given him a bruise on his head and his flippers were both scraped.

After a second, he dusted himself off and said, "Mike was right. Let's go, guys."

"We would've been in huge trouble..." I said as we started for the car.

"Yeah. And facing Mr. Coon at school's gonna be real awkward," G-Billy said.

We reached the car. PH was sitting there, quietly looking out the window. When she saw us, she perked up and opened the door.

"Guys! You're back!" she said. "What happened?" she asked as we got in the car.

"Let's just say we dodged a bullet," Petey K said, starting the engine and heading down the road.

"Literally?" PH's eyes widened.

Stomp laughed. "No. Figuratively."

"Oh, gosh. That scared me."

"That was... Those guys are really mean," I said.

"It's called high school. Get used to it," G-Billy said.

I grinned.


	12. Chapter 12: In A Whole New Way

"If an atom of phosphorus has 5 electrons in its outer energy level, which element could it react with to become stable?" Ms. Angelini was saying. I looked around the room as she wrote on the board. Neil, a boy in my Science class, raised his flipper.

"Neil?" she asked.

"Maybe aluminum?" Neil said. She nodded.

"Aluminum, why?"

I looked down at my binder, which was full of papers. We were taking notes right now. Ms. Angelini is the queen of taking notes. My brain felt like it was gonna explode. In Science, we were studying the periodic table and it wasn't easy. Like, at all. Cadence wasn't in my Science class, either, so she couldn't help me. She's a pretty good student- actually, she's a really good student- she's only had a B on a report card once in her life. It wasn't even a real B, it was a B+.

Me, I'm more of a B guy. I get A's in certain subjects, but when it comes to Science and Math, you'll see me in the B area most of the time.

Okay, why am I thinking about my grades? If I don't pay attention I'm gonna regret it later on the chapter test.

I copied down the notes Ms. Angelini had written on the board. It was 3:01, and there were nine minutes until we got let out of class. That didn't mean the day was over, though- our school day goes until 5. On Mondays, we have Band after Science, then a study, then dismissal. Cadence and I never get anything done during studies. We doodle in my sketchbook or go to the music room. On occasion, she makes me work because she wants to get her homework done. We have plenty of studies at Pine Hill, though, and we usually have the time to get most of it done if we want to.

I tried to pay attention to Ms. Angelini. Blah, blah, electrons, phosphorus, ions, energy levels...

Are we speaking a different language or something?

3:03. Seven minutes until Band. Seven minutes.

Blah, blah, blah. Something about reactivity. I copied down the notes on the board.

3:04. C'mon, six minutes! Why do the last ten minutes of class go the slowest?

Devin was across from me. I met his eyes across the table, and he made a confused face. I grinned.

3:05. Five minutes until Band, until freedom from the realm of the World's Most Confusing Science Lesson, until Cadence...

I'm so tired. Why am I so tired?!

I yawned. 3:06.

I drew a treble clef in the margin of my paper. 3:07.

I copied down more notes.

3:08.

C'mon...

I'm acting like it's the last class of the year, I thought with a grin. I fidgeted with a string on my purple-and-gray sneakers. I had on a blue-and-red striped t-shirt, a thin red sweatshirt, tan pants, and those purple sneakers. I wear them a lot. I like them.

3:09.

Ms. Angelini gestured to our assignment board. We had a quiz on Wednesday. I had already written it in my assignment book.

3:10! Let's get outta here.

Ms. Angelini kept talking.

My face fell. She's supposed to let us go. What's going on?

After a minute, though, she dismissed us. I grabbed my stuff, thanked her, and was the first one out of the classroom. I ran down the hall to my locker, then put my Science stuff away, grabbing my trumpet and Band folder.

Going down the hall, I found Cadence at her locker. She was calmly taking out her folder. Today, she was wearing her scarf, wristbands, and sneakers as always, plus a green-and-gray long-sleeve cropped shirt with a purple camisole under it.

She looked over at me and smiled. "Hey, Franky," she said in greeting, taking her clarinet and folder out of her locker. She closed her locker, leaning up against it and facing me.

"Hi, Cadence," I said, smiling.

"Shall we go to Band?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

We started down the hallway, headed for the Band room. She looked up at me as we went.

"So how was Science?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Confusing. As usual. I don't understand reactivity."

"Oh, it's very easy, Franky. The less stable an atom is, the more violently it's going to react. The most reactive element is-"

"No, no... I appreciate your help but I just had 50 minutes of that piped through my head... I'm grateful that you wanna help me but please... Save it for when I'm doing Science homework..."

She giggled. "Okay. Sorry."

I grinned. "So how was Math?"

She rolled her eyes. "Boring."

"What did you do?"

"Talked about stuff."

"Like...?"

"I don't feel like discussing Math."

"Okay." I laughed softly.

As we went, we passed a poster for the Halloween Dance, which was in a couple weeks. I grinned as she looked at it.

"Are you going?" she asked, noticing I saw it too.

I shrugged. "Depends if I feel like it."

She laughed. "You should go, Franky, it'd be fun!"

"Are you goin'?"

"Yeah."

"Should I come?"

She nodded. "Definitely."

I smiled. "Maybe I'll come."

"You should."

We reached the Band room. Inside, there were a bunch of penguins setting up instruments. I sat in the trumpet section, and Cadence sat in the clarinet section in front of me. She put her clarinet together, then turned to me, grinning. I blew into my trumpet, making a loud noise, and she jumped, then giggled.

She started talking to Mallory, the girl who sat next to her in the section. I looked around, bored. Our Band director, Mr. Bauer, was talking to one of the saxophone players about something and hasn't started yet.

Charles was the first-chair trumpet, which really made me annoyed because that spot had been mine all through the fifth to eighth grade at my old school. My goal in Band was to outplay Charles and be the first-chair by the winter concert. We were both first trumpets, so it didn't exactly matter which order we sat in.

In the clarinet section, Cadence played second clarinet. I kinda felt bad for her since she was pretty good, but talent is kinda the usual thing at this school. She practices like crazy and Mr. Bauer still wouldn't give her first.

Soon Mr. Bauer started the class. About five minutes in he started drilling something with the saxophones, then the flutes. It was kinda boring, but he finally let the whole band play again.

Band went by at a normal speed, and at 4:05 we got dismissed. Cadence met me in the hallway on the way out and said,

"So music room?"

"Sure," I said, "but let me pack up first."

She nodded. "I'll meet you there."

"Okay."

I ran down the hall to my locker, where I stuffed my books I needed into my backpack, grabbed my guitar and big notebook, and headed towards the music room. Holding my guitar and notebook in one flipper and my trumpet in the other, I was a little slow due to the fact that I had so much stuff to carry, but I could handle it.

As I reached the music room, I heard a familiar chord pattern being played on the piano. I opened the door, came in, and plopped my stuff next to Cadence's by the door. I sat next to her on the piano bench and she stopped playing.

She looked up at me. "Hi."

"Ready to get absolutely no work done?" I asked, flipping through my notebook and finding my music to a random song I'd written.

She laughed. "Of course."

"What's this song?" she asked, pointing to the page.

"Aw, just something I wrote..." I started playing. It was about her, like most of my music these days. This one was deep, though. She watched me as I sang, lightly resting her head on my flipper. I felt tingly and happy inside. She closed her eyes, listening to the lyrics. She was smiling.

As I finished, she looked up at me, grinning. "And you said you don't do relationships."

"Yeah, well, I can be deep if I want to," I said with a small grin.

"Obviously." She took her head off my flipper and looked at the lyrics.

"R-really deep," she continued. I blushed and she leaned back, tucking her head into my shoulder area. "I hope whoever you wrote that about doesn't mind me."

I laughed. "Cadence, the song's about you."

Wait. Did I really just say that out loud?

A blush crossed my whole face as she looked up, tilting her head to the side. "For real?"

I nodded. "Y-yeah..."

She giggled. "As long as we're all confessing, listen to this." She picked up her notebook and flipped to a page with the title 'Whole New Way'. As she played, I smiled. It was a song about how she'd had guy friends, but felt a whole new way about this one. And the guy was obviously me, because at the end she said, "To make it clear... It's about you."

I laughed. "Yeah, I know." I wrapped her in a playful hug. She giggled, leaning onto my chest. We stayed there for a minute, then she lifted her head and said,

"Now that you know... know that I really like you... Can we kinda try to keep it a secret? The last thing I need is more drama with Charles..."

I nodded. "I won't say a word. As long as you don't tell anyone about me."

She nodded and we shared a moment. Now that I knew she liked me back, she was even prettier to me. She was pretty in a whole new way. Grinning, I realized that was the name of her song.

"Shall we get back to being the most productive students on campus?" she asked.

I laughed. "Of course, of course."

I got my guitar out and started playing the opening of "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes. It was my song to her, since she said not many penguins accepted her. She watched me, resting her cheek on her flipper and smiling. I really got into the song, and when I finished, she sighed.

"Oh, Franky... that was beautiful, really," she said softly.

I smiled. "I'm glad."

She smiled at me. "I love that song."

"Me, too."

"That was so good."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Both of us were in a sort of dreamy trance, and we kept on smiling. It was new for me, but it was a good feeling.

"You should come over again," I said. "That was fun."

"I could?"

"Of course you could. Maybe this weekend?"

She shrugged. "I'll talk to my parents."

I grinned. "Awesome."


	13. Chapter 13: The (Finally) Initiation

"Something, something... blah... blah..." I strummed a chord on my guitar. "Blah... I don't know the words," I sang. "Blah, blah, I do not know the words... something, something, yeah... I won't go home without you!"

I grinned at myself. Right now, I was sitting in my room messing around on my guitar. It was early morning, and today I was going over Stompin' Bob's house for their band practice. I still hadn't actually joined the band, but I went to their practices and everything.

I had gotten up really early and already eaten breakfast. Right now it was 8:09. This was super early for me. My mom was driving me there at ten.

I resumed my playing, singing.

"Blah, blah... something, tonight.. Something, blah, blah, make it right... I may not make it through the night, I won't go home without you..."

I had heard this song on the radio yesterday and I really liked it, so I was playing it on the guitar. The funny part was I didn't even know the words. The tune was really catchy, though.

Let's play... Oh, I know... I started singing "If I Die Young" by the Band Perry. It was a sad song but I really liked it.

After I finished that, I went back to my 'learning'.

"Um, what are the words... Something about tonight... Something about making it right... I may not make it through the night.. I won't go home without you..."

I started playing really loudly and singing. After a minute, my mom poked her head through my bedroom door.

"Franky, it's only 8:10 in the morning-"

"8:20," I said, grinning.

"Well, 8:20... on a Saturday... and there are penguins in our neighborhood who want to sleep," she said.

"Do you know the words to this song?" I asked, playing the opening to the song I was trying to figure out.

She shrugged. "No, sorry. But please keep it down." With that, she was gone.

I grinned. "Kay!"

I picked up my phone. Should I call Cadence? ... Nah, she's probably not awake yet. I put it down.

I played the opening of "Take Me Away", a song I'd written. As I started to sing the first verse, I watched out my window. The days were getting shorter all the time.

After I'd played for a while, 9:00 struck and I picked up my phone to call Cadence.

Holding the phone up to the side of my head, it rang. Once, twice, three times...

"Hello?"

"Hi," I said.

"Oh, hi, Franky. What's up?" She sounded a little tired but not exhausted.

"Nothing, I'm just bored," I said.

"Me, too," she replied.

"I'm trying to figure out the words to a song."

"What's it called?"

"No idea."

"How's it go?"

I started singing again. "Something... tonight, blah, blah, blah, make it right..."

She joined me. "I may not make it through the night, I won't go home without you..."

I laughed. "So you know it?"

"Yeah, but I'm like you, I only know those two lines..."

"Do you have any idea what it's called?"

"No..."

"Hm, I'll find it eventually..."

"So what are you up to today?"

"I'm going to Stompin' Bob's for band practice."

"Nice, have fun."

"Thanks. Maybe they know the words."

She giggled. "Now it's gonna bug me."

"Me, too."

I heard her yawn. "You tired?"

"Actually... not really. I'm excited."

"For the band practice?"

"Yeah. I think they might finally actually let me into the band today."

"Cool."

"Are you tired?"

"Yes. And bored."

"What are you doing today?"

"Uh... nothing, but we're going over some friends of my parents' house tonight."

"So your dad's home?"

"Yeah, he's coming home today. I'm excited. I haven't seen him since August. But he leaves next Friday again, and won't come back until the week before our winter break."

"Ugh, are you serious?"

"Yeah... These fishermen, they go everywhere."

"Where's he going this time?"

"Some island far away."

"Aw." I paused. "So do these penguins have kids? Or do you just sit there bored out of your mind the whole time?"

"No, they have a daughter who's a sophomore. Her name's Dot. She's nice, but to be honest, we're really different. I think the only similarity between us is that we both take an interest in fashion."

"Fashion?"

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a crazy fashion freak girl with no brain who's at the mall 24/7... But it's kinda cool."

"Nice."

"So I'll have Dot to keep me busy..." She paused. "What else is up?"

"Not much."

"I'm bored."

"Me, too."

She giggled again. I grinned.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." I heard her open a drawer on the other end. "I wrote a song yesterday. Proud of me?"

"Yes, of course." I put down the phone and clapped, then picked it back up again. She laughed. "Tell me about it!" I said.

"It's called 'Looking Up'. It's pretty random... It's about finding yourself and letting everyone know who you are."

"That sounds awesome. You gotta play it for me on Monday."

"I will."

There was a silence, then she said, "I've gotta go eat breakfast. Can I call you later?"

"Aw." I was dissapointed. "Okay. I'll call you when I get home from the practice."

"Got it. Talk to you later, Franky."

"Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up, then grinned. She's so awesome.

By now it was about 9:10, and we had to be at Stompin' Bob's house by ten. We were leaving at about quarter of ten.

The next 35-ish minutes were spent by me doodling in my sketchbook. I drew Cadence hugging me. It was cute, and when I finished, I turned to a new page to start something else. Just then, though, my mom said,

"Franky, it's time to go!"

I got up and grabbed my guitar. "Coming!"

I gathered up my songbook and folder, then, holding my stuff, ran down the stairs and joined my mom at the door. I threw on a jean jacket over my white t-shirt. Slipping on my gray-and-purple high tops, I opened the door and ran out to the car.

"Don't be so hyperactive, Franky," my mom said as I got in the passenger seat. She got into the driver's seat and fastened her seat belt. I fastened mine, and she started the car. I turned on the radio.

"Franky, it's too early for music," she said. I could tell she was kinda in a grumpy mood.

"It's never too early for music!" I said. The song was 'Diamonds' by Rihanna, which is an okay song to me but my mom hates it. I changed the station. This time, 'Thrift Shop' by Macklemore was playing. My mom hates that song, too. As we pulled out of the driveway, my mom shook her head, pushing the button that turned the radio off.

"Wh-what did I do?" I asked softly.

"Nothing, it's just... I'm tired. I can't do radio right now."

"I- okay..." I said, looking around.

It was a little chilly out. I was glad I'd grabbed that jacket. I had a white t-shirt, the jacket, jeans, and my purple high-tops.

It was about a fifteen-minute drive to Stompin' Bob's house. When we got there, I got out. Two cars, Petey K's car and another car which I figured was G-Billy's, were there. My mom got out, too.

I went to the door, then knocked. My mom came up behind me.

A red penguin answered. She had short brown hair that was neat and in a bob. She wore a light-pink sweater and smiled when she saw us.

"Hi! You must be Franky." She looked down at me. Literally down. For a woman, she was TALL.

"H-hi," I said, smiling. Shy Franky was back. He comes out when I meet new penguins, especially my friends' parents.

"I'm Bob's mom," she said. "G-Billy and Petey K only just got here... They're in the back..." She pointed me in the direction of where they were. I nodded and headed that way as she started to talk to my mom.

The inside of Stompin' Bob's house was small. I'd figured it to be since the outside was small, too. To my right, there was a kitchen. To the left, a couple stairs that stepped down into a living-room area. The walls were painted mostly red and brown. There were a couple doors all around the room. I headed towards the door that Stomp's mom had pointed to.

It led into a back-room sort of thing, where G-Billy and Petey K were standing. G-Billy was laughing at something. In here, there was a piano, a couch, a stack of books, and random things like Stomp's bass propped up against the wall.

G-Billy saw me first, grinning. "What's up, buddy?"

I grinned. "Not much. Hi, guys."

"Hi," Petey K said. "Stomp's out in the tree house... AGAIN... We're plotting how we're gonna scare him."

"Huh?"

"This door..." Petey K said, going over to a door, "...leads to the backyard. We're gonna go scare Stompin' Bob as a prank."

I nodded. "Okayyyy..."

"We're gonna all climb up to the tree house and yell 'BOO!'. You ready?"

I nodded slowly. "Sure." I put my stuff where I saw they had piled theirs, in a corner near the piano.

"C'mon." G-Billy pushed open the door and went out. Petey K followed him, and I tagged along behind them, closing the door.

The backyard was a little grass, then a whole lot of woods. I figured the tree house was somewhere in the woods. I was right, because Petey K started for the woods.

Following him, G-Billy and I went into the many multicolored trees. It is fall, after all.

Soon we came up on a simple-looking wooden tree house with a rope ladder dangling from it. It was high in one of the trees.

"Shh," G-Billy whispered. "We've gotta use stealth."

"Okay," I whispered back, grinning.

I could hear Stomp talking, but couldn't make out what he was saying. It seemed a little weird for him to be talking to himself, but then I realized there was someone else in the tree house. A soft female voice was having a conversation with him. I couldn't make out who it was, but I realized it was PH... I could hear her accent. I grinned.

G-Billy slowly approached the ladder, and I followed him. Petey K went behind me. G-Billy started climbing, and so did I. I stopped when I got to a point where I could see them.

They were sitting facing each other, both with one flipper on the wooden floor. He had the other flipper in her hair and they were looking at each other. I got the feeling maybe this wasn't a good moment to scare them, but it was too late... G-Billy jumped up and cried, "BOO!"

"AH!" they both cried at the same time. PH grabbed Stomp's flipper and he quickly moved his flipper from in her hair to around her back protectively. They both relaxed when they saw G-Billy.

"Holy crap, man, you scared the living daylights out of me!" Stompin' Bob said as G-Billy climbed into the tree house with a grin.

"That's what I was going for," he said, sitting against a corner. I hopped up into the small space too, and Petey K came up last.

"Jeez! When did you all get here?" PH asked.

"A few minutes ago." G-Billy was laughing. "You shoulda seen the looks on your faces."

"Th-that was NOT funny," PH said, leaning onto Stomp's shoulder while still facing us. I was surprised they were so comfortable acting like a couple around us, but I didn't say anything.

"Was to me," Petey K said. G-Billy laughed.

"Yeah, me too," said G-Billy.

Stomp rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Sorry 'bout that," he said to PH. She grinned and said something to him softly. He shrugged, and she said another thing. He sighed and muttered an 'okay', then she kissed him lightly on the cheek, slipped something into his flipper, and went over to the ladder.

"Bye, mates," she said, starting to go down. "Have fun."

I gave her a friendly wave, and G-Billy did too. "See ya," Petey K said. Stomp grinned and nodded his head to her. She dissapeared below the level I could see, and in a minute, I heard her flippers hitting the leaves as she went out of the woods.

I felt the need to apologize to Stompin' Bob. "S-sorry. We really didn't know she was up here with you."

He shrugged. "Good practice for if her dad ever caught us."

"But you, like, grabbed each other."

"Because she knew it was G-Billy."

"What would happen if it was her dad?"

"We'd stop touching each other in any way and pretend to be minding out own business."

"Have you drilled this?"

He laughed. "Do I sound like I have?"

I nodded.

Grinning, he slipped whatever PH had given him into the back pocket of his jeans. "Yeah, we have."

"That's obsessive," G-Billy muttered.

Stomp shook his head. "No, careful. Trust me, I know the difference."

G-Billy grinned.

Petey K spoke up. "Is anyone else, like, not tired at all?"

"Me," the three of us all said at the same time, then we laughed.

"It's a weird feeling," Stomp said, looking away a little distantly. "I'm 16. I'm supposed to be tired 24/7."

I laughed, and so did Petey K.

"Question," I said to Stompin' Bob.

"Yes?" He looked at me.

"How old is she?" I gestured to the tree house door, meaning PH. The only reason I'd asked was because she seemed younger than Stomp.

He grinned. "Freshman. Turning 15 in December."

"She's not that much younger than you," G-Billy said.

"Yeah, not really." He leaned back onto a wall. "The issue is, guys, that her dad tells her she's not allowed to have a boyfriend until she's 21. That's six years of waiting on her, and a few months. We might not even live near each other like this when she's 21. And even then, he says the guy has to come over and be 'screened' by him before they can do an ounce of dating." He paused. "The guy has an alright personality towards me, but I know deep down he hates my guts. He'd never let me date her, ever."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because... I'm dark. I'm sad a lot. I have a slight obsession issue, and chances are that he doesn't want me to get obsessed with her. Which..." He paused for a long time. "...which is what would happen if he found out and took her away from me."

I nodded. "I feel bad for you."

He smiled at me. "Thanks, buddy."

I nodded.

"Well..." He looked around. "Shall we get to work?"

"I left my stuff in the-" I started. He grinned at me.

"What, you think we're gonna practice out here? No, we're going to my room."

"Okay," I said.

Petey K started down the ladder, and G-Billy followed him. Stomp motioned for me to go next, and I did. The ladder was shaky and unsteady, especially with all three of us on it at once. I think Stomp noticed that, because he waited until G-Billy and Petey K reached the bottom to start descending. I hit the ground with a 'thud', landing on my flippers.

"That ladder is scary," I said, grinning as Stompin' Bob leapt off the ladder seven rungs from the bottom. He landed perfectly, but leaves flew up and got on him.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" I marveled as he dusted himself off.

"Skill," he replied. "Follow me, guys."

There was a path worn into the woods from the tree house to Stompin' Bob's backyard. I noticed it had two separate exits to the woods. We took the one on the left, and wound up in his backyard. Next door, PH was in her yard playing with a small, fuzzy, blue thing. It had eyes and a mouth, and she was tossing a red-and-yellow ball to it. The two backyards were separated by a short fence, painted a brownish color.

"This way." Stompin' Bob led us over to the back of the house, pulling open the door to that back room we'd been in. He lost us go in first, then came in, closing the door behind him.

"I changed my mind, let's practice in here. My room's a little small for all four of us," he said.

I nodded. "Okay."

"Grab your stuff, guys. Petey, I have a spare amp..." He went over to a closet next to the piano and opened the door, reaching in and taking out an amp. "Franky, do you need slash want one?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"I'm alright," I replied as he closed the closet door and carried the amp over to Petey K.

"If you want one, let me know."

"Okay."

I went over and grabbed my stuff, then found a place to be like everyone else was doing. G-Billy was on a beanbag in the corner of the room (It wasn't a big room), and Petey K had taken the opposite corner. He was in a brown wooden chair with a cushion on it. Plugging in the amp, he took his royal blue guitar out of its case and started tuning it. G-Billy had a bunch of handheld drum things like his tambourine, which he was hitting to a rhythm with a satisfied look on his face. I took out my guitar and strummed a C chord, then G, then D, and finally E minor. That's my 'tune check'. If all four chords play the right way, it's most likely in tune. I strummed all six strings individually, just to check. Yep, in tune.

"How can your guitar be so perfectly tuned all the time?" Petey K asked, adjusting a string.

"I spend a lot of time at home playing and tuning it," I explained.

"Me, too, but King Blue is always so out of tune." He paused. "Yeah, I named my guitar. Don't judge." It was obviously directed at me.

Stompin' Bob took his bass out with a grin, sinking against the wall behind him and plugging it into an amp that had been next to him.

"Maybe King Blue is too old," G-Billy suggested.

"What are you saying?"

"Just that he's old."

"How long have you had it- er, him...?" I asked.

Petey K grinned. "Since I was eight years old. And look at us now! We're a winning combo." He added, "I've been playing since I was five, though. I started out on my uncle's guitar."

"Oh, wow," I said softly. I've been playing the guitar since I was six, and there wasn't much difference. Still, that was impressive.

"Let's... get to work," Stomp said.

We started the practice with this weird thing where Stomp would play a bass line, G-Billy would give us a beat on the tambourine, and Petey K and I took turns improvising. Stompin' Bob did a little, too. It was pretty cool, but I felt like a miserable fail compared to them.

After that, we started playing random popular songs. We must've played at least eight, ending them creatively with random embellishments. Then we did originals. We each took turns playing one, then did a few all together.

We had to have played for two hours, at least. Nobody came in to bug us or anything. It was awesome.

At about 12:30, Petey K announced that he had to go at quarter of one because he had a guitar lesson. My lessons are after school on Thursdays and Tuesdays, and I felt bad that he had to do it on a weekend like that.

Stompin' Bob said there was something we had to do before Petey K left. He went over to the closet and took out a box.

"You have it?" G-Billy asked as he brought it over to his spot, sitting back down. He opened it, nodding.

"Franky, we have a procedure to go through," he said to me. He took out a piece of paper and something metal, setting the box aside.

"Come to the middle, guys," he said. The four of us all got up and waddled to the center of the room. I felt like I knew what was coming.

"This is an initiation..." he said quietly, grinning. "Very serious."

I grinned, and so did G-Billy and Petey K.

Stomp held up the paper in front of him.

"Here we go."

Reading it, he started,

"Today is an important day for us, gentlemen. For the first time in 2 years, we're welcoming a new member into our crazy society. This is a society of music, manliness, pride, and humor. We may not be always 100 percent serious and mature, but we do make a good band." He paused.

"In November two years ago, we held an initiation similar to this on order to establish the Penguin Band officially. Although a group of well-rounded, talented gentlemen, we always seemed to be lacking something: a lead singer. Nobody in the school would take the time to be interested, and we thought we'd be a three-part band for the rear of our days. Well, today that's going to change."

"Therefore I, Robert J. Stevens, proud leader of the not-so-famous-not-yet Penguin Band, hereby do proclaim Franky B. Jones to be, as of October 5th at 12:32 PM, the fourth and last member of our band."

I grinned, and G-Billy and Petey K clapped. Stomp handed me the metal thing. It was a small silver coin-like thing, with my name hand-cut into it.

"We all have one," he said. "Keep it safe."

I nodded, slipping it into my pocket.

I was smiling really hard right now, and probably looked like a total idiot. "Thank you guys so much."

"Welcome to the land of penguins who can't maintain a civilized conversation to save their lives," Petey K said. All four of us laughed.

"That's very true," G-Billy said. Stomp, who was next to me, gave me a manhug, lightly bopping me on the head.

I grinned.


	14. Chapter 14: Advanced Doodling

Ugh.

Get me outta here.

I reached for my sketchbook, sliding it into my lap under my binder. Mr. Olson was talking away at the front of the room and didn't notice.

I was in Math class and bored out of my mind. It'd been a slow day, and we only had one more class after Math: Chorus. Which is basically The Period Where Charles Laughs At Franky For His High Voice While Everyone (Including Cadence) Watches. It's not fun. I love to sing, but it's just embarassing. Ms. Lee asks me to demonstrate high parts. In elementary school, that's an honor for anyone. For a guy in high school? Um... not so much.

I sat in the back of the Math room, in a group of three with two guys named Nick and Jason. Nick was nice, but Jason had anger issues. Every time someone embarassed him, his whole face would go a bright, bright red. Then he started breathing really heavily and put his flippers into fists. I don't think he's ever really harmed anyone, but trust me, I'm not about to be the first.

Reaching for a pencil, I flipped the pad over to a fresh page and started drawing.

First I drew the base for a penguin sitting down at a desk, then I gave the penguin my clothes today: a light-blue collared shirt with thin green stripes and jeans. I had a frustrated expression and had my face in my flippers. I usually don't color things, so I added 'color' by shading it. Nick, who was next to me, knew what I was doing, but he didn't say anything. He wrote something on his mini-whiteboard (We all use one in Math) and showed it to me:

'Go ahead. I won't say anything. It's just advanced doodling. Everyone doodles.'

I grinned and mouthed 'Thanks.' He nodded and looked back to the front of the room.

I flipped the page again and started drawing Cadence. She was sitting at her desk in Science, where she was right now, looking focused and alert. Above her, I drew an inset with me inside it. I was saying 'Do you think of me as much as I think of you?'.

This sounds like it'd take forever, but a) Math didn't end for another 20 minutes right when I finished that drawing, and b) I don't take that long to draw a picture.

I wrote 'I love you' at the bottom of the picture, then grinned for a second.

And that's when things got messy.

Jason, who had seen me drawing across the desks, widened his eyes. Not only is Jason anger-ly challenged, he's also a tattletale and he loves to call out penguins who do something they're not supposed to do.

The desks were lined up so he could see what I was drawing. He reached for a piece of paper and wrote something on it, passing it to Nick. Nick read it, then rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Jason," Nick hissed, throwing the paper back at him. Jason smirked and slipped the paper to Layla, the girl in front of him.

'What did it say?' I wrote on my whiteboard, showing it to Nick.

'You don't wanna know,' he wrote.

'Tell me.'

'It says you love Cadence.'

My face went a deep maroon color as Nick erased his board.

'I'll talk to you after class. Let's not get detention,' I wrote.

'Deal.'

We both erased our boards and I put my sketchbook away. I watched in horror as the note went all the way around the room. A couple penguins looked at me, and I hid my head in embarassment.

The 20 minutes seemed to fly by because I knew endless teasing was coming for me after class, and I was right- as soon as I was out of the classroom, Jason waddled up to me.

He laughed out loud. "I can't believe you!"

"Wh-what?" I found myself cornered near the water fountain, with a crowd of spectators all around me. I'd completely lost Nick.

"Dude, she's WAY outta your league. Charles likes her, anyways," piped up Henry, another guy in my Math class.

I went red. "She isn't-"

"Yes, she is," he replied.

"You're probably the wimpiest guy in the whole school. What could she see in you?" a girl named Gabby chimed in.

"I..." I started. A bunch of penguins laughed.

I was completely against the wall, with a group of at least eight girls and boys from my Math class around me. I hugged my books to my chest and took a deep breath.

"Very true, Gabby," Jason said.

Just when I thought this was one of the most embarassing situations ever, around the corner came none other than Charles, on the way to his locker.

"Ah, look at the crowd." He strolled over to us. Noticing me, he said, "Putting on a show, Jones? Nobody wants to hear you sing. I'd try the parking lot, you might draw in more eager spectators."

I shrunk down, feeling short. There were laughs from all around me, and I wanted to dissapear into thin air.

Please... anyone, come help me...

"L-l-leave me alone."

"Awwww. That's adorable, you get a stutter when you're nervous," Charles said.

"N-no, I don't."

"N-no, I don't," he said, mimicking me. The group all laughed. "I don't think Cadence would likely go out with you when you can't even get your syllables straight."

"G-g-go away." I couldn't control the stutter, it just happens when I'm under pressure (or really cold).

Charles raised an eyebrow.

"I d-don't get it. Wh-why do you all p-p-pick on me?" I asked.

"You're small, vulnerable, and yellow," Charles replied. "Pookie color."

I wasn't yellow right now. I was red from embarassment. "I AM NOT A POOKIE!"

My high-pitched, shrill outburst seemed to echo through the hall.

"G-get outta here," I said.

"Awww, the cute little pookie wants us to leave. Whatsa matter, wiittle boy? Can't find your mommy?"

I felt like I could smack Charles so hard right now, but he'd hit me back and we would get into a huge fight. I clutched the side of my binder, breathing slowly.

"Franky?" said a soft voice from the back of the group.

I looked in the direction of the noise, and there was Cadence. She wasn't holding anything, but held her flippers behind her back.

"Cadence," I said softly, relieved. She looked around curiously.

"What's going on here?" she asked.

"Loser here was drawing you in Math class. I felt the need to spread the word," Jason said.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Nothing. C'mon, Cadence, let's go," Charles said. He started to leave, trying to take her with him. She shook him away and said,

"No, Charles... Why were you all picking on Franky?"

"Because he's a loser," Jason said.

Cadence's dark, pretty eyes widened. "No, he's not."

"Aww! I see the feeling's mutual. How adorable, we have a new couple in the grade," he said.

I could tell now Charles was getting a little steamed. "The feeling's not mutual, you idiot," he said to Jason.

"Are you kidding? Look at how bad she's blushing right now. Of course it is." Jason gestured to Cadence, whose face had turned a deep pink.

Cadence took a step forward. "I suggest you all leave."

"Ooh, feisty girl we got here, huh?" Jason said.

Cadence crossed her flippers, sticking out her right hip and looking at Jason. "Feisty, huh?"

"Yeah," he said. "It's kinda hot."

Charles scowled and Cadence stepped back. I reddened and muttered, "Lay off."

Nobody heard me except Cadence, who shot me a glance. I blushed.

"Hey, hey," Charles said to Jason.

"What?" Jason asked.

Charles lowered his voice and said something to him. Jason rolled his eyes, turning away from Charles.

"Listen, I don't know about you, but I've gotta get to class," Jason said to everyone that was around. I could tell it was a cover for the fact that Charles had probably just threatened him and he wanted to get outta here.

Charles rolled his eyes and Jason took off. A few other penguins left with him. Gabby, Henry, a guy named Randy, Charles, Cadence, and I were still here.

Charles turned to me. "How many times do I need to tell you to stay away from her?" he asked.

"H-hey!" I said. "For y-your information, it's n-not me you should be th-threatening. C-could I remind you that J-Jason just called her hot only 30 s-seconds ago?"

He laughed. "Yeah, but there's no doubt in my mind that you have, too."

I actually haven't. I don't call girls hot or any adjective like that. I think it sounds weird.

I really didn't know what to say here, though. It was either get Charles mad and pay Cadence a compliment, or get Charles to go away and maybe hurt Cadence's feelings.

Randy quietly started down the hall, and Gabby followed him. Now it was only Henry, Charles, Cadence, and I. A few other kids were in the halls, but they weren't freshmen.

Charles grinned. "Speechless, huh?"

I shook my head, trying to think of something to say.

"You never cease to dissapoint me, Jones," he said.

"Stop calling him by his last name," Cadence said. "He has a first name, y'know."

I smiled slightly at her.

Charles rolled his eyes. "It sounds better." He paused. "Henry, get lost. I need to handle this on my own."

Henry waddled away awkwardly, dissapearing around a corner.

"Babe, I think you might wanna head to class, too," Charles said to Cadence.

"Charles, don't call me that," she said. "And I'm not leaving."

Charles grinned. "Suit yourself."

Cadence uncrossed her flippers and stepped towards me a little.

Charles, meanwhile, crossed his and looked at me evilly.

"You creep. Drawing her in class," he said to me.

"What p-part of that m-makes me a c-creep?" I asked.

"It's obsessive," he said.

"Y-yeah. And you aren't o-obsessed with h-her."

"I'm not obsessed..." he muttered. "Let me ask you, Jones, do we need to get the juniors involved in this again?"

"N-no."

"Yes," someone across the hall said. I turned my head. Stompin' Bob was leaning against his locker. He had said it. "Or at least this junior's getting involved. Temporarily."

"Listen, Charles," he said, making his way over to us. "I'm not gonna turn this into what it turned into last time, but you gotta stop picking on Franky. Penguins say this over and over to you- The girl you like isn't always gonna like you back. This is high school. Chances are other guys are gonna want your crush to themselves. You gotta stop freaking out over it, though. Find a new girl. Franky's a lot sweeter than you'll ever be and you've gotta chill."

"That made zero sense," Charles replied.

"Not to me," I said.

"Take some time to comprehend what I say, then," Stomp said. "I'm outta here. Get lost, Charles. Else we're gonna have a problem."

Without another word, Stomp went back over to his locker. Charles raised an eyebrow.

"If only he wasn't goth. He'd be so much less intimidating," Charles said.

"I'm not goth," Stompin' Bob called.

"Sorry. Whatever you are," Charles said.

Stomp closed his locker, taking his books and going into the Math room.

"I'll see you at Chorus, babe," Charles said, heading down the hall. Which left Cadence and I alone.

"I wish he would stop calling me 'babe'," she muttered.

"Me, too," I said.

She looked around. I stepped forward and lightly hugged her.

"Thanks for trying to help me out," I said.

"No problem, Franky," she said.

"We're so late. We gotta go," I said.

"Yeah." She held out her flipper to me. "Just bring your Math stuff. You can put it away later."

I nodded, taking her flipper. We started down the hall to the music room.

I realized she was actually holding my flipper for one of the first times. As we went, she met my eyes. I shrugged a little.

"So... were you really drawing me in class?"


	15. Chapter 15: Open Mic

I slowly woke up to the sound of rain hitting my window. Blinking a few times, I yawned and rolled over onto my back, scratching my forehead.

My clock said 8:36. I usually wake up at around 8:30 on the weekends, but don't come out of my room until nine. Today, it looked like it was gonna be a pretty boring day. Except that there was open mic at Johnson's Bar + Grille downtown tonight, and I'd convinced my parents to go.

I'd been coming down with a cold. Today, I felt stuffed-up, which sucked, but I promised myself to sing a ton today. That way, no matter how sniffly I was come 6 PM, I would be ready to sing.

I usually do that anyway. Playing my guitar, singing, or practicing trumpet usually accounts for at least 65% of my day. That sounds crazy, but it's not... I really wanna make it in the music biz. I work hard because I know that it can all pay off later. But only if I work hard enough.

I reached for the glass of water on my nightstand, taking a gulp. It was warm and the ice had melted, but it still felt good on my throat.

Last night, I'd been up really late texting Cadence (What else is new?). We had been talking about the Halloween dance and she was trying to convince me to go. I really can't freestyle dance, but I wanted to slow-dance with her really badly.

I never went to dances in middle school. I always set up to go with a friend, then found myself alone because everyone had girlfriends. I must've been one of the only guys in my eighth-grade class who didn't have a girlfriend or at least a crush. My friend Jack and an outcast named Timmy joined me in this category.

This year, it was similar. There are a bunch of couples in the grade.

I looked around my room, then grabbed my sketchpad, rolling onto my stomach and grabbing a pencil.

I opened to a fresh page and drew two penguins dancing, then gave them details and voila- it was me and Cadence.

I wonder if it's weird that I think about her this much, I thought as I flipped through my drawings.

Nah.

Well, the day basically dragged on (Which is weird because Sundays usually go by really fast). When 5:30 finally came, I started packing up my guitar and my stuff. I went downstairs to put it in the car, but I was rejected by my mom, who said I needed to go 'put something nice on'. So I retreated to my room, putting on a royal blue short-sleeved collared shirt. Pulling on a pair of dark blue jeans, I grabbed my red sneakers and went back downstairs, pulling them on as I went.

"Better?" I asked my mom. She nodded.

"Much better. But we don't have to leave for another few minutes. It only takes about 10 minutes to get downtown."

"Oh." I paused. "I'm gonna go put my stuff in the car anyways."

"Okay," she said.

I headed outside, where Dad was standing in the yard. He had an umbrella and was looking around. It was still raining.

I covered my head with my flipper, running down the driveway and pulling open the trunk of the car. I put my guitar and other stuff that I was bringing in the trunk, then shut it and ran up to the lawn.

Dad held up his umbrella to cover both of us. "What's up?"

"Nothing... It's been raining all day."

"Eeeyup." He paused. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah." I realized I was kinda nervous. "But nervous."

"You're always nervous before you play, then you go play and you do a great job. Don't be nervous."

I smiled. "It's... scary."

"Why?"

"Because there's no doubt most of the penguins doing it are older than me."

"There's bound to be someone younger than you. You always get that one 10-year-old who gets up there and ends up being way better than you expected."

I grinned. "Yeah, there's always one really little kid..."

He nodded.

"Why are you out here?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't really know."

"Maybe we should go inside?"

"Yeah, seems like a good idea."

We headed for the front door, then came in. We were both wet, him a little less than me.

Mom noticed straightaway. "It's STILL raining out there?" She looked out the window as I nodded. "I thought it stopped," she said.

"It did, for about 3 minutes," Dad said.

"Oh." She shrugged. "That's strange."

"Can we go?" I asked.

The clock on the stove said 5:48.

"Fine, let's go. Franky, is your guitar in the car?" she asked.

I giggled. "That rhymes."

"Franky."

"Yes, I did."

"Good. Get your coat."

I grabbed my blue raincoat, then headed outside, putting the hood up. I got in the car, and Mom and Dad followed me. Dad started the car and we pulled out of the driveway.

I turned on the radio. "Let's get this party started!" I said. "This is my jam!"

I actually didn't know the song that was playing, so I changed the station. I started bobbing in my seat to the rhythm of the song that was on: "Gone, Gone, Gone" by Phillip Phillips. This was the song I was singing tonight.

"I love this song," I said softly.

I sang along until the end, then another song I didn't know came on. That is, I thought I didn't know it... until the chorus.

"Oh, my God! This is that song!" I cried. "I love this song!"

It was the song I had been trying to figure out last Saturday before practice.

"What song?" Mom asked.

"This song! I was trying so hard to remember the words to it last Saturday! Remember?"

"No..."

"This song rocks!"

I kept bouncing in my seat, singing along with the words I knew. I knew the whole chorus now, but not the verses.

"Is this song called 'I Won't Go Home Without You'?" I asked.

"Sounds that way," Dad said.

"Maybe they'll say it," I said.

They didn't say it, sadly. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked up 'I Won't Go Home Without You' in the music store. A song called 'Won't Go Home Without You' came up, and I played a clip.

"This is it!" I cried, downloading the song. "This is my jam."

We reached Johnson's a few minutes later, and I jumped out of the car, running around back to grab my stuff. I felt hyperactive and crazy right now. That was weird, because I'm usually shy and awkward. It was probably the song- I was really proud of myself for figuring it out. It had been bugging me all week. Even Petey K, who seems to know every single song under the sun, had told me he didn't know it.

The center of the town was a busy place full of tall brick and metal buildings. A lot of little businesses were here that got no business at all, but Johnson's was pretty popular. It was a brick building on Main Street. Some places around here looked really trashy, like that place we'd gone a few weeks ago to meet Mike and his crew, but here it was relatively clean and crime-free. It really depends on the street.

"It's raining! Run for your lives!" I exclaimed as my parents got out of the car. My dad laughed softly at me, and my mom locked it. "Wait! Pop the trunk!"

My mom pressed a button on the keys, and the trunk opened. I grabbed my guitar and books, then closed it. "Ahhh, I'm wet!" I said.

I dashed to the door and pulled it open, revealing the bustling interior of the restaurant. The smell of burgers, chicken, and other grilled stuff met my nose (Do I have a nose?). I was here for the open mic, but I realized I was REALLY hungry.

"Let's do this," I said. The old man at the front desk chuckled at me. "What?" I said softly to him.

He shook his head, grinning. "Nothin'." My parents were a little behind me (They were still outside.), and he continued, "Where're your parents, darlin'?"

"D-darling?" I said awkwardly.

"Sorry, ya might be a little old for that name... I just call all little girls 'darlin''. I'm used t' havin' my daughter around."

"I... I'm a boy..." I said quietly.

My mom and dad came up behind me.

"This is awkward," I said.

"What is?" my dad asked.

"I'll tell you later," I said to him.

"How many?" asked the old man, reaching over to the stack of menus on the counter. "Just the three?"

"Yes, please," my dad said. The man continued,

"Any kids menus?"

I shook my head. "No, thank you."

He took three menus off the top of the pile, and looked around. "Right this way."

This is really awkward.

Yes, I have a high voice, but nobody's ever mistaken me for a girl before. What girl is bald? Really, that guy is just rude. I'm wearing a boy's shirt, and boys' shoes. Plus, I'm holding a folder that says "Franky Jones" on it. I'm pretty sure Franky isn't a name for girls.

The desk-guy led us to a booth on the left of the stage. Right now, there was an orange penguin with blond hair at the mic. He looked about twenty and was singing a song I didn't know, while playing an acoustic guitar. His voice was pretty good, but deep, unlike mine.

"Are you ready, Franky?" my dad asked with a smile.

I shrugged a little. "Yeah."

"What's wrong?" he asked as the desk-guy waddled away.

"That guy who just gave us our table mistook me for a girl," I said. I felt myself blush.

"Wait, really?" he asked me. My mom widened her eyes.

I nodded. "Mm-hmm. He called me 'darling', then I asked him why he called me it, and he said he usually calls little girls 'darling'."

"Wow..." my mom said.

"Mom, Dad, is my voice THAT high?" I asked shyly. "I won't be offended if you say yes."

"No," Mom said. At the same time, Dad said,

"Well, you've got a pretty high voice, Franky."

I nodded. "I know..."

"So..." My dad leaned back in the booth, opening his menu. "What shall we get?"

"Uh..." I opened my menu and examined it. "I'm starving, but I have no idea..."

My mom opened her menu as the guy on the stage finished his song. He headed down to his table, sitting down across from a purple girl with brown hair. She smiled at him, and I grinned. Young love.

I wonder if Cadence would go on a date with me. Not right now, we're not even officially together yet. Yet. As soon as I ask her out, assuming she says yes, we can go on a date. Maybe see a movie or something, I don't know.

I smiled to myself. There was so much you could do with the thought. But I wanted to focus on warming myself up and getting ready to sing.

I took a deep breath. "Uh, Mom? Dad? Can I go warm up a little somewhere more quiet?"

My mom looked at her watch. "Sure. What do you want to drink?"

"Uh... can I get a soda?"

"Sure. What kind?"

"Sprite," I said. "Please," I added hastily as I got up and slid out of the booth. "I'll be back in five minutes!"

I jogged across the restaurant to the lobby, where the awkward desk-guy was standing talking to a couple. There was a waiting area-slash-room, but nobody was in there, so I went in.

The waiting area-slash-room (heh, that sound funny.) was a little room with comfy chairs, benches, menus, and a lamp. There wasn't a door between there and the lobby, but it was secluded.

I sat in a chair and closed my eyes. "Just warm up..." I said to myself.

I sang a middle C, then moved down the scale to the lower C. I don't have great range in the low area... on a good day, I'll get to the B below the note I was on. Today, I wasn't feeling the bass clef, so I went back up to middle C and started stretching myself to get to high C.

Do, rey, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do... do, rey, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do...

I held out the high C for a few seconds, then grinned at myself.

"Showoff," said a voice from the doorway of the waiting-room. I looked up, opening my eyes.

"Ah!" I cried, hiding myself with my flippers in embarrassment. "Holy crap, Cadence! How long have you been there? And what are you doing here?"

"Thirty seconds, and... I'm eating," she replied. "Wise one. What are you doing here?"

I blushed. "Eating. And for open mic. Are you gonna sing?"

She shrugged. "No..."

"Why not?!" I asked.

"Because I don't want to..."

"How come?"

"I have no track or anything..."

"I have my guitar!" I said as she came over to the chair I was sitting in. "You can- I'll accompany you! Name the song, I'll play it."

"Oh, you don't have to," she said, putting her flippers on either side of me and leaning down to me. I smiled at her shyly.

"Hey," I said, blushing.

"Hey," she replied. She, in one quick motion, turned around and sat with me in the chair.

"I'll even sing with you, if you want to," I said.

She smiled sweetly, giving me a look that made me blush all over. Her big, pretty eyes were focused right on me. "What can you play?"

"I told you. Name the song and I'll play it."

She paused, tilting her head to the side and considering for a moment. "Can you play... oh, I don't know... 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri?"

I nodded. "Yeah!"

"Then... can I sing that?"

I laughed. "Of course."

She smiled, leaning on my shoulder. "Can I warm up with you?"

"Sure," I said with a grin. "Follow my lead, okay?"

She giggled. "Okay."

I took her up and down the scale a few times, and had her do a few exercises that I do sometimes. Then I brought up the words to "Jar of Hearts" on my phone and we went over them a few times together. She was singing alone, but I wanted to give her a little harmony in the background. She sounded really good tonight.

"Cadence, you sound great," I said softly. "Really, you do."

She blushed. "Thanks, Franky."

"You're welcome. I'm serious."

"Why do you think I sound so good?"

"I have no idea... you just do. Your lower range is really good. Unlike mine."

"You have a good lower range."

"My higher range is better. You can't argue with that."

"You're right..."

She looked at me. "So what are you singing?"

"I think 'Gone Gone Gone' by Phillip Phillips."

"Why does he have two first names?"

"I don't know." I laughed. "I don't think it's his real name."

"Yeah, probably not... I love that song, though."

"Me, too. My version's slower."

"Can I hear it?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it's a surprise."

"Awww. C'mon, please?" She gave me a puppy-dog-eyed look. I shook my head, smiling.

"No, just wait. You'll like it, I promise."

"Promise?" She giggled.

"I hope you like it. Better?"

"Better."

We smiled at each other for a minute, then I said, "I told my parents I'd be back in 5 minutes..."

"Yeah, me too," she said with a grin. "Let's go."

We got up and she led my by the flipper out of the waiting room and into the main restaurant area. She was holding my flipper again, and I probably looked like a lovestruck fool.

"See you soon, Franky," she said to me as she went back over to her table.

"Bye," I said to her with a wave.

I went back over to my table, where my Sprite and parents were waiting.

"Hi, I'm back," I announced.

"I saw," Dad said. He grinned. "So your girlfriend's here, huh?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" I protested, taking a sip of my Sprite.

"Looks that way to me," he replied.

"How does it look that way?" I asked.

"You two came in blushing like two lovebirds."

"Yeah, 'cuz it's hot in here."

"That was a lie. That was a very bad lie."

I laughed. "She waddled in on me warming up."

"Why was she out there?"

"To warm up."

"Jee, you two just had a warming-up party out there, huh?"

"Daaaad." I was going red again. I tried to ignore him and focus on the bubbles building up on the sides of my Sprite.

"So is Cadence singing?" Mom asked.

"Yeah," I said with a smile. "I convinced her; I'm gonna play guitar with her singing."

"What's she singing?"

"'Jar of Hearts'," I replied.

"I... I don't think I've heard it."

"You probably have. You'll recognize it at the chorus."

Mom shrugged. "I'm not very knowledgeable with the pop culture."

"It's okay. Not many parents are."

"I am," Dad said. "Pop, rap, and hip-hop are in. Disco is out."

"Wow, Dad!" I said, pretending to be impressed. "High flipper!" I held up my left flipper.

He slapped it. "I'm in the know!"

I nodded sarcastically, grinning.

After we ordered, things were a total drag for a while. Even after our food came, it was pretty boring since I was just waiting to go onstage. The idea was the guy who was 'hosting' the open mic asked if anyone was ready to sing, and he picked someone who raised their flipper. I hadn't been picked yet, and I was itching to go.

Finally, about ten minutes after we got our food, I was mid-bite-of-fish when the guy asked again. I jerked my flipper up, swallowing my bite whole. It took a second for me to swallow, but I did. The guy looked around for a second, then pointed to me.

"How 'bout you? C'mon up here."

I grinned as the penguins in the restaurant politely applauded. Reaching for my guitar, I grabbed it and headed up to the stage. The announcer guy grinned at me and said,

"What's your name?"

He held his microphone to my beak. "I'm Franky," I said.

"And what are you singing for us tonight, Franky?"

"I'm gonna sing 'Gone Gone Gone' by Phillip Phillips." I failed to pronounce his name, tripping over my tongue. "Phillip Phillips," I said, slower. "It's a beakful."

A few penguins in the restaurant laughed. I blushed, as the guy gave me the microphone. "I'll help you set up."

It takes very little time to hook up my guitar to an amp. I took the cord out of my case, plugging it into the side of my guitar. Giving the other end to the announcer guy, I hopped up onto the stool behind the microphone stand. I put the mic into the holder on the end of the stand, then tapped it.

"Test, one, two... yeah, it works," I said. I always say that when I test a microphone.

Some penguins laughed again. I grinned at all of them, then the announcer gave me the heads-up that I was ready to go.

I tested my guitar, strumming a D chord. All tuned up and ready to go.

I started playing the beginning of the song. Usually, I look down at my guitar when I'm playing instrumentals, but I decided I was going to try and make eye contact with the audience.

Cadence was sitting at a table with her mom towards the front. She was resting her head on her flipper and looking at me, smiling. As I started to sing, we made eye contact.

I pretended it was just me and Cadence in the room, and nobody else. The whole song, I didn't lose eye contact with her, and as I played the last chord, she winked at me, then applauded with the rest of the audience.

"S-sir?" I asked to the announcer behind me.

"Yes?" he asked me.

"Can I play an accompaniment for my friend?"

"I... I suppose so, is he or she here?"

I nodded, pointing to Cadence in the audience. "Right there."

"She can come up, I guess."

I made the flipper motion for Cadence to come up to the stage. She hopped up and joined me up there, smiling.

"You ready?" I asked her, as she grabbed another stool from the side of the stage and sat on it, placing it next to me.

She grinned. "Yeah."

"Pretend it's just you and me." I smiled.

She nodded. "Okay."


	16. Chapter 16: I Don't Like English

I opened my English binder to the notes section and realized I was out of paper. I looked over at Cadence and said softly,

"Can I borrow a piece of paper?"  
She grinned, opening the rings of her binder and pulling out a piece. "Sure." She gave it to me, and I took it.  
"Thanks," I said. She smiled at me.  
"No problem."

I clicked my pen and started copying what was on the board. English class was somewhat hard because grammar doesn't exactly come easily to me. I had a B- right now, and midterms were coming up. They were two weeks from today, and I was getting kind of nervous. If I get a C, my parents won't be pleased. They expect B's from me, with the occasional A.

I looked over to Cadence, who was writing in her binder in purple pen. We're allowed to use any color for notes, so she makes them bright. She likes bright colors.

Watching her copy the notes, I ditched my own binder. Her eyelashes were really pretty.

I can just stare into her eyes and get lost... but I won't. I don't want a C in English.

She has neat handwriting. It's curvy and fancy, but you can still read it.

Okay, I officially have zero attention span.

My pen was running out of ink. Oh, great. I watched as the letters got fainter and fainter, then faded into the gray-ish shadow that shows when you write with a dead pen. I opened my pencil case and realized there weren't any other pens.

Cadence noticed my problem and slipped me a pen out of her pencil case. I smiled at her and wrote 'thanks' on the corner of my paper. She wrote 'no problem' on hers, then kept copying the notes.

I resumed my copying, too. We were taking notes on Hamlet.

I don't like English, I decided. Except for the fact that Cadence is in my English class. And, well, she sits next to me. But other than that, I don't like English.

Cadence and I bumped elbows on accident. I write mostly with my left flipper and she writes only with her right, so we bump each other in class a lot. Sometimes it's on accident and sometimes it's not.

This time, it was an accident. She giggled softly and blushed, muttering an apology. I shook my head at it, grinning.

We had 6 minutes left of class. After that, we went to lunch. We were supposed to get our tests back in this period. The tests were from a few weeks ago and they were on Shakespeare's life. I got the feeling I hadn't done so well, and I didn't really want to get it back.

"Everyone finished?" Mrs. Chattaway asked. I started writing really fast to finish the last sentence, then nodded. She went over to her desk and picked up a big stack of orange papers from her desk. She gives all our tests, quizzes, and homework on orange paper. It's weird.

"I'm going to hand your tests back." She paused. "For the most part, you did well."

"For the most part," I muttered. Gulp.

Cadence giggled, elbowing me (on purpose this time). "I bet you did fine."  
"Not so sure," I replied.

She started handing back the tests. I like looking at penguins' faces when they get a test back, btu Cadence and I sit in the back of the room. We got our tests last, and I couldn't see anyone's face anyway.

When Mrs. Chattaway finally got to the back of the room, she gave Cadence her test first. Then she placed my test on my desk, face-down. After that, she went back to the front of the room.

"Here we go," I said.  
Cadence grinned. "Same time?"  
"Sure. One, two, three-"

I picked up my test.

Oh, God.

That's not good.

"Oh, thank God," Cadence said, leaning back in her chair. She sighed in relief and I said,

"What did you get?"  
"94. You?"  
"64... my parents are gonna kill me..."  
"Oooh." Cadence made a face, then squeezed my flipper. "I know how it feels."  
"Okay, Ms. 94."  
"Franky, so you got a D on one test. Does it matter?"  
"Yes, because now I've got a C+ for sure, if not a straight C..."  
Cadence sighed. "Did you study?"  
"Yeah! I studied for at least an hour and a half..."  
"Well, Shakespeare is confusing..."  
"Obviously not for you... I'm so screwed..."  
"It's okay, Franky. Your parents will understand."  
"Are you kidding me? She just said the class did well. Except this idiot over here."  
"You're not an idiot, Franky."  
"Yeah, I am..."

I was ticked at myself. I knew I'd done badly on the test, but I hadn't expected a D.

Cadence put her flipper on my shoulder. "It'll be fine, Franky."  
I sighed. "I hope."

When class got out, I slowly made my way to lunch. I was really mad at myself and nervous that my parents would be mad at me. When I finally reached the lunchroom, I sat with Cadnce at the table we usually sit at, then buried my face in my flippers, sighing.

I felt Cadence's flippers around me, and her beak brushing lightly against my cheek. I blushed and my stomach swooped.

"Franky, it's okay. Don't let it ruin your day," she said softly. "I know it's not easy to forget about a bad grade, but try."  
I nodded. "Hey, Cadence...?"  
"Mm-hmm?"  
"W-w-will you go to the Halloween Dance with me?"


	17. Chapter 17: How I Met Your Band

"Franky's got a girlfriend! Franky's got a girlfriend!" G-Billy chanted.  
"Dude! I've told you a million times, she's not my-" I said, but he cut me off.  
"Franky's got a girlfriend! Franky's got a girlfriend! Franky's got a girlfriend!"  
"He's not gonna stop doing that, is he?" I asked Stompin' Bob next to me.  
"Afraid not, buddy," Stomp replied, as he dug into his backpack for his Latin binder.  
"That's what I thought," I said.

He cracked open the white binder he had, putting it in his lap. G-Billy was still chanting.

"G-Billy, shut up," he said. G-Billy sat down on the bench next to Petey K glumly.

"Still, he has a date," G-Billy remarked.  
"Just because she's going to the dance with me, suddenly I have a date?" I asked.  
"It's a dance! What rhymes with dance? Let me tell you that- romance."  
"Okay, Mr. Love Doctor," I said. I leaned over to Stompin' Bob, looking at his papers. He was doing a worksheet.

"He gives us so much homework on the weekend," Stomp complained.  
"Who does?" I asked.  
"Mr. Swain," he replied. "My Latin teacher."  
"Oh." I paused. "Is Latin hard?"  
"Nah. Just a lot of work."  
"Spanish isn't hard."  
"You should've taken Latin. It's better. Mr. Swain gives you Cheez-Its in class when you take a test."  
"We get Three Musketeers in Spanish."  
"Stop making me hungry! Last-period on Friday is the hungriest period of the whole week." He paused, looking around. G-Billy and Petey K had started working on their homework on the other bench. "Where is your girlfriend, anyway?"  
I blushed at the word 'girlfriend'. "I don't know... she usually meets me here, but she said she was checking in for Math..."  
"When did she say that?"  
"20 minutes ago."  
"You think she'll show up?"  
"I hope."

"I hate Science," G-Billy declared as he clicked his pen and started writing on a piece of lined paper. "Hate it, hate it, hate it."  
"What do you have?" I asked as I opened my English binder and took out our worksheet for the weekend.  
"For homework?"  
"No, for a grade."  
"I think a B+."  
"A+, loser!" Petey K cried with a grin.  
"Shut up," all three of us said in unison. Petey K laughed.  
"I have a B," I announced.  
"A-," Stompin' Bob said. He shrugged. "Yeah, we all suck except Petey..."  
"True story," Petey K said, taking out his Math book.

"I'm getting really bad grades this semester..." I said softly.  
"What are you getting?" Petey K asked.  
"I have at least a C+ in English... and a B in Science, and a B- in Math, and a B+ in History... and I have no idea what I've got in Spanish."  
"That's not THAT bad."  
"Yeah, it is. Stop being fake, you can say I'm stupid."  
"You're not. Why the C in English? What are you studying?"  
"Shakespeare." I pretended to shoot myself in the head with my flipper.  
"Ugh. Having fun?" Stomp asked.  
"Yeah. Loads." I paused. "I suck at grammar... I misspell everything..."  
"Well, there are plenty of penguins who are bad at English."  
"I guess..." I sighed. "What do you guys have in English?"  
"A+," Petey K said.  
"Do you have straight A+'s?!" I cried.  
"I have no idea," he replied.  
"If you do, I may kill you. Slowly. With Mr. Olson's laser-eyes."  
"And then Petey K died. The end!" G-Billy cried.

All four of us laughed as I looked at my worksheet.

"Yeah, not happening..." I said, putting it away.

Petey K pulled something out of his pencil case. "Endurance test! Who can keep this on their forehead for the longest time?" He was holding one of those clips with the triangle-shaped metal part and the two other metal parts.

"Ohh! Me first. It's on," Stomp said. He grabbed the clip from Petey K and squeezed it open, clipping it to the front of his forehead.

"Ah," he said, leaning forward and squeezing his eyes shut. He put his flippers into fists and breathed heavily. "Holy crap, this kills."

"I'm counting," G-Billy said.

"Ahhhh," Stompin' Bob said again. "Oww. This is worse than any time I've-" He slapped his own flipper over his beak. "N-nevermind."

"What?" I said, looking from him to G-Billy and Petey K. Petey K shook his head. "That's another conversation for another day."  
"O- okay..." I said.

"OW! Okay, I give up." The pressure had caused Stompin' Bob to tear up, but that happens whenever you do something like that to your face. "That KILLED. G-Billy, I nominate you to go next."  
"Challenge accepted," G-Billy said as Stomp gave him the clip.

Stompin' Bob rubbed his own forehead. "Ouch..."

"What... are... you... doing?" said a voice in the doorway. I turned around, and there was Cadence, leaning against the doorframe. She likes to do that, I've decided.

"Oh, just testing our endurance," I said. "Welcome to the land of the crazies!"  
She came in, putting her stuff down and sitting next to me. "Uh..."  
"Intro. Cadence, this is the band." I said.  
"Hi," Petey K said.  
Stompin' Bob nodded at her.  
"'Sup?" G-Billy asked.  
"Not much..." she said. "I'm Cadence."  
"I'm Peter. But... call me Petey K."  
"G-Billy. Nice to meet ya."  
"I'm Bob, Stompin' Bob... WHY did you guys make me do that?"  
"You said you wanted to," Petey K pointed out.

"I'm just not gonna ask..." Cadence said, pulling out her Math binder.  
"Good plan," I said, grinning.

"So, Cadence, it's nice to finally meet you," Petey K said.  
"You, too!" Cadence smiled.  
"What are you here for?"  
"Music. Like all of you. Plus, I like to dance."  
"That's cool. What do you play? Or do you sing?"  
"Both. I play clarinet in band and I'm in Chorus... I play the piano, too."  
"Care to play something?" He pointed to the piano behind him.  
Cadence went red. "I'm not the best..."  
"Neither am I," Stompin' Bob encouraged. "C'mon, it's just for fun."  
Cadence sighed. "What do I play?"  
"Play a song you wrote," I said to her.  
"Nooooo." She shook her head. "Not happening."  
"Then play a cover."  
"Which song?"  
I shrugged. "Any."

She sighed, got up, and went over to the piano.

"Remind me why I'm doing this?" she asked as she sat down.  
"Because," I said. She laughed.

She shrugged, playing a few chords. "Uhh... I have no idea what to play."  
"Do 'Fighter'. But the slow version," I said.  
"O-okay."

She started playing, then started to sing along. As the song progressed, she sounded better and better. At the end, I smiled and met her eyes, and she blushed.

"Good job!" Petey K said, applauding with G-Billy, Stompin' Bob, and I. "That was really good!"  
"Thanks!" Cadence smiled and got up, sliding onto the bench next to me.  
"You're good," Petey K said. Cadence smiled, leaning on my shoulder.  
"Thank you."

Petey K and G-Billy started talking, and Stomp got back to his homework.

"Ohh, I'm so tired," she said to me softly.  
I grinned. "Half an hour left. Will you survive?"  
"Nope."  
"Me, neither."  
"I don't wanna do homework."  
"I don't either."  
"What do you wanna do?"  
"No idea."  
"I'm tired."  
"I know."

Cadence didn't take her head off my shoulder, and I was blushing. She fumbled around for my flipper, then squeezed it lightly, closing her eyes. I felt tingly inside, and Stompin' Bob gave me the thumbs-up. I grinned.

"What are you going as to the dance?" I asked her.  
She shrugged. "No clue. But we should coordinate. Don't worry, I won't make you dress up in a stupid costume."  
"Cool." I looked at the three guys. "What are you guys going as?"  
"I have no idea," G-Billy said.  
"Yeah, I don't know either," Petey K added.  
"I don't think I'm going to the dance," Stomp said.  
"Why not?!" G-Billy, Petey K, and I all said at the same time.  
"Simple, I can't dance."  
"Neither can I, but I'm going," I said. "Come and fail with me."  
"Rather not..." He sighed.  
"This isn't just because he can't dance... true story, but... This has something to do with PH," G-Billy said.  
Stomp hid his face in his flippers. "PH is mad at me."  
"Why?" I asked.  
"She caught me last night doing something she hates it when I do."  
"What?"  
"Like he said..." He pointed to Petey K. "Another conversation for another day."  
I nodded. "Okay."

He sighed, sitting back. "I hate homework!"  
"Me, too," I said.  
"Yeah." Petey K erased something he had written.  
G-Billy nodded. "Yup."

"Forget homework. We should just mess around," Stomp said.  
"I kinda need to get this done..." Petey K said.  
"Okay, the penguins who aren't nerds should mess around."  
"Hey!" Petey K bopped Stompin' Bob on the head, and they both laughed.

"But seriously," he said. He got up and waddled to the piano. Playing the opening of a song I didn't recognize, he started to sing. Petey K sang along with him, and so did G-Billy.

I didn't recognize it until the chorus, when I realized it was "I Don't Want To Be" by Gavin Degraw. I grinned. I didn't know the words, but I knew the tune. Cadence bobbed her head, closing her eyes. She was smiling.

Petey K and G-Billy broke into harmony, and by the third chorus, I was with them, too. We finished on a big note, and Stomp clapped his flippers together.

"Yeahhhhh!" He grinned. "I love that song!"  
"Me, too!" G-Billy said. "That's my jam!"  
"How many jams do you have?" Petey K asked.  
"Uh... I have no idea..." G-Billy started counting on his flippers. I laughed.

"Okay, what's a song... that we all know... that I can play on the piano... that a girl and a boy sing together in?"  
"Oh, God. I'm being set up," I said.  
"Mmhmm." Petey snapped his flipper in a Z.  
I sighed.  
"You guys should sing 'Little Talks'!" G-Billy exclaimed.  
"Awww, yeah! I love that song!" Cadence sat up.  
"Me, too," I said.

"Let's go!" Stomp started playing. Cadence bobbed up and down, and started singing. It was low for me, but I could do it. We had a ton of fun with it. At the end, I found myself in her flippers. She laughed out loud as she pulled away.

"That was so fun!"


	18. Chapter 18: Donut Shops and Secrets

I sat down at a table, looking around. Boy, am I bored. I hate getting here early when there's nothing to do. Right now, I was hanging around in the library, and my stomach was growling.

"I want a donut," I said to nobody.  
Nobody answered.  
"I'm hungry," I continued.  
Still no answer.

The library was a little crowded, but I was off to the side, sitting at a table in the History section. The clock read 7:15. I had been here since 7:10, because my parents were going to a surf competition for my dad. They had to be there early, and therefore I was dropped off at school early. We had to be at homeroom by 7:50. Mr. Hawkins was my advisor, and his room wasn't far from the library. I came here sometimes before homeroom.

Okay, food sounds really good right now. All I'd had for breakfast was a granola bar.

I pulled a notebook out of my backpack, flipping it to the notes section. It was my Science notebook, and we had a quiz today. I didn't really feel like studying, but there was nothing else to do.

"Blah... blah... periodic table... elements... I DON'T CARE!" I announced. I didn't say it that loudly, but a few penguins looked my way. I shrugged, blushing a little and putting my notebook away.

"Food? Anyone got some food?" I asked, looking around. A few juniors were drinking coffee over by the language section. Even coffee, which I've never had before, sounds good right now.

"Food," I repeated. Nothing.

Okay, I seriously want some food. I'm being obsessive, but I'm starving.

Someone sat down next to me at the table. I looked over. As he put down his hood, he said,

"'Sup?"  
"Oh, hi, Stomp," I said. "Why are you here so early?"  
"Why are you?" He grinned, raising an eyebrow.  
"I asked you first," I retorted.  
"I'm here at 7 every day. My parents both have to be at their jobs really early, so they ditch me here."  
I laughed. "Fun."  
"Talk about it." He put his black backpack on the ground next to his chair, pulling off the gray sweatshirt he had on. Under it, he wore a black long-sleeve t-shirt and jeans. "So what are you doing here early, anyway?"  
"My dad had a surf competition..." I replied. "And I'm starving..."  
"Me, too." He grinned. "Maybe when Petey gets here, he'll take us to Cunning Donuts."  
"Cunning what?" I asked.  
"It's a donut shop about a quarter mile down the street. And yes, it has a weird name. The owner of the place is named John Cunning."  
"Are we allowed to do that?"  
"What, go there?"  
I nodded.  
"Yeah. As long as we're back by homeroom, we can go off-campus."  
"Oh... Do you think he'll take us?"  
"Maybe. If he doesn't have anything else to do."  
"I'm so hungry."  
"You keep saying that."  
"I know. Because I'm hungry."  
"Did you eat breakfast?"  
"I had a granola bar..."  
"That's it?"  
"Yeah. We were kinda in a rush this morning."  
He picked up his backpack, giving it to me. "There might be some food in there. You can check if you want."  
"Really?"  
He nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

I unzipped the top of his backpack. Inside, there were 3 textbooks, his planner, a notebook, lined paper, and a book he was reading in English. There was a pencil case, too. But no food.

"You can try the front pockets if there's nothing there," he said.  
"Okay." I unzipped the front pocket. There were a few pencils, folded-up papers, and a pair of scissors.

"Ooh, yum. Paper." I grinned. He laughed, and I moved some stuff around.

That's when I noticed it.

The sharp parts of the scissors were stained red with what looked like blood.

Picking them up, I said,  
"Uh... Stompin' Bob...? What happened to..."  
Before I could finish, he cursed under his breath, reaching for the scissors and taking them from me. He sat on them.

I raised what would be an eyebrow if I had them. He sighed, leaning on the table and hiding his face in his flippers. He let out a big sigh.

"What's wrong?" I asked.  
"Nothing, it's just... I really didn't want you to see those..."  
"I..." It took me a second to process it, but my eyes widened as I realized what he meant.

He rolled up one sleeve and held out his wrist to me. "Hate me, call me emo, call me suicidal. I don't care."  
"Wh- I..." I looked at his wrist and my eyes got bigger. He lifted his feathers, and his flipper was scarred all over.  
"I know, I know." He sighed. "I'm crazy."  
"You're not crazy, but... why would you..."  
He sighed, shrugging and putting his sleeve back down. "Everyone deals with crap in some way. That's my way." He faced me a little. "And it's not like I wanna die; I don't. I just... It kinda relaxes me, in a weird way."  
"But doesn't it hurt?"  
"The first couple times. Especially the way I do it. But I've learned to deal with it." He paused. "This is the other conversation for another day that Petey K was talking about on Friday."  
"Are you... okay?"  
"I'm fine. Totally fine. I do it all the time, okay? It's no big deal."  
"Are you sure?"  
"I'm sure. Do... do you hate me?"  
"No! No way, Stomp! I'm glad that you trust me enough to tell me..."  
"Well, I kinda didn't have much of a choice after you saw these." He took the scissors back out and put them away, zipping up his backpack and putting it down again. "But I do trust you. As long as you promise you won't tell anyone."  
"I won't, I promise... Who... Who knows?"  
"Well, G-Billy and Petey K know... and, well, PH knows. And now you. But that's it."  
"I won't tell anyone."  
He grinned. "Thank you."  
"No problem." I was pretty surprised. "Why... Why do you do it?"  
"I... I have some home issues. It's kinda complicated. Not really something I like to talk about. I'm fine, okay?"  
"Okay."  
He hugged me, surprising me. I grinned as he muttered,

"Thank you."  
"For what?" I asked as he let me go.  
"For being such a nice kid."  
"Oh, so I'm a kid now?" I said, in mock anger.  
He laughed. "No. You're... uh... a teen? I don't know."  
"You know that the other day, a guy mistook me for a girl?"  
"Are you serious?"  
"Yep." I grinned. "Most embarrassing moment ever."  
"I bet." He smiled.

"Why, hello there, gentlemen!" someone coming up behind us said.  
"Hi, Petey," Stomp said without turning around.  
"Wow, you're good!" Petey K, sporting a purple beanie and a white t-shirt, took the third seat at the five-chair table. He put his bag on the ground.

"Will you take us to Cunning Donuts? PLEASE?!" Stompin' Bob begged.  
He looked at his watch. "It's 7:22. Wanna go now or wait for G-Billy?"  
"When does he usually get here?" I asked.  
"He's always late," both of them said at the same time. All three of us laughed.  
"Okay, let's go," Stomp said. He got up, picking up his backpack. I had left mine in my locker. Petey K slung his over his shoulder, and the three of us started for the door out of the library.

"Franky, you look flustered," Petey K said.  
"I'm hungry," I replied.  
"No, he's hungry, but he's flustered because... he..." Stompin' Bob lowered his voice. "...knows."  
"He knows what?" Petey replied.  
"That I..." Stomp lifted his right wrist and made a flicking motion across it with his left, then dropped both of them.  
"Oh..." Petey K looked over to me. "You do?"  
I nodded.

There was a silence, then Petey K pushed open the library door. We headed down the hallway.

"Awkward!" he said. Stompin' Bob and I laughed.  
"True." Stomp remarked.

-  
10 minutes later  
-

"Food!" I dived into my chocolate-frosted donut.  
"You were hungry, huh?" Petey K asked, taking a bite of his bagel.  
"Yup," I said, with my mouth full.  
"Eew. Gross." Stompin' Bob looked away.  
"What are you, a ten-year-old girl? Eww." Petey K said, imitating him.  
Stomp swatted him with his flipper. "Don't sass me."  
Petey K made a girly face. "Girlllll. Don't YOU sass ME."  
"Oh, it's on." Stomp snapped his flipper in a Z.

I started laughing as they made girly faces at each other. A pair of girls behind them were cracking up, too.

"Psst. Guys. The ladies are laughing at you," I said.  
Stompin' Bob awkwardly stopped.  
Petey K kept laughing.

"Insane! You're insane," Petey K said.  
"I said don't sass me!"

****AUTHOR'S NOTE: I won't do these regularly, but I'll just say... I don't think Stompin' Bob cuts himself in the actual game, okay? Don't hate me. This is just to give the story some drama and suspense.****


	19. Chapter 19: The Halloween Store

"Franky, do you want something at the store? I'm going," Mom said as she took her raincoat off the rack.

"No, not really..." I replied. "But if you're going, we need peanut butter."

"Okay." She zipped up her coat. "Brad, can you think of anything we need?"

Dad shrugged, opening a cabinet. "I think we're good. Ooh, wait, can I have some chips?"

"You sound like a child," Mom said to him.

"Oooh." I sat at the table. "Burn."

Dad laughed.

"So nothing?" Mom had her flipper on the doorknob.

"Nope." Dad turned to her. "Except chips."

She smiled, rolling her eyes. "I'll be back at 10-ish." She went out into the rainy driveway.

I looked at the clock. 8:32.

"Hey, Dad?" I asked.

"Yeah?" He looked at me.

"Can you take me to the Halloween store?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Right now?"

"Pleeeaseeee? The dance is this Friday. 6 days! I need to get a costume!"

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I did."

"When?"

"Monday."

"Oh." He sighed. "Well, now that you say that, maybe I can drop you off at the Halloween store and I'll go to the bank."

"Can you?" I practically leapt out of my seat.

He looked at his watch. "I'll make a deal with you. We'll leave now, get there around 8:45, and I'll pick you up at, say, five past. That gives you plenty of time to pick out a costume. Deal?"

"Deal!"

About 15 minutes later

Dad pulled into a spot in front of the store. "So I'll pick you up a little after 9, okay?"

"Okay!" I put my raincoat hood up. "Thanks, Dad!" I pushed the car door open and ran out, heading to the front door.

The Halloween store was a building painted dark-gray, with mannequins outside modeling popular costumes. They were under the roof of the store, and didn't get wet, even though it was raining. One of them was modeling a mummy costume, others; superhero costumes, and others, monster costumes. I had never been in here before, and it looked kinda spooky.

I pushed open the door. Soft, creepy music played from speakers on the ceiling, which was painted green. The walls were gray and the floor was made of black tiling. In the front of the store, a big Frankenpenguin statue greeted you. He had a creepy smile on, and there was a sign next to him that said 'Welcome'. The sign was made to look like it was written in blood.

Yikes.

There were 4 registers at the front, to my right. They were big black desks with computers and other technology on them. Only two of them were occupied. Both the employees wore green-and-black outfits with lanyards and nametags. Other workers were in aisles around the store.

The store was a lot bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

This is freaky.

Monster statues stood at the head of almost every aisle.

I stood at the entrance as the door swung closed, uneasy. Then I waddled into a random aisle. Might as well look around.

This aisle had a lot of makeup and face stuff in it, which I didn't need. So I went into the next aisle. This was full of kids' costumes.

"You look lost," said an employee in the back of the aisle.

She was green, with long, straight blond hair and the same uniform they were all wearing. Her nametag said Cheyenne.

"Yeah, I am," I replied.

"What do you need?"

"Can you show me where the teen costumes are?"

"Sure." She beckoned for me to follow her.

*I was looking for the perfect costume. Not a 'normal' one, but the best. Cadence would have to be impressed with it.

As I went, the store girl was with me, she was like my guide. I gotta admit, the Halloween store was really big!

There were some penguins checking out Zombie costumes and were-wolf ones. I saw 2 girls. One of them was looking at a pink pony-like costume saying "Does this suit makes me look fat?" while the other one was face-flippering.* The store girl snickered at them, then led me down an aisle full of plastic costume bags.

"This aisle and the ones around it will be the teen costumes," she said.

I nodded. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome. I'm Cheyenne, and I'll be over in the kids' section if you need anything."

"Okay."

She waddled away. The pony-costume-girl and her friend were still over at the back of the store. I grinned at them for a second, wondering what the heck they were doing. Then I turned to the racks of costumes.

"Hmm." The costumes in front of me were girls' costumes.

Why did she bring me here?

Oh, God, not again. Does she actually think I'm a girl?!

I looked at my clothes. Blue raincoat, jeans, red t-shirt, blue sweatshirt. If she thinks I'm a girl, I'm a very tomboy-ish girl.

Jeez.

I waddled out of the girls' aisle and looked down the one to my left. Still girls'. I looked to the right. Oh, here we go. Boys'. That's better.

I actually have no idea what I want to go as.

I looked around for a few minutes. Cadence had told me on Friday that she had her costume. But she hadn't told me what it was. All she said was that it was really funny.

I couldn't find anything. Most of the costumes were creepy or bloody. (Or both.) There were mummies, vampires, frankenpenguins, zombies, and ghosts.

It would be kinda cool to go as a vampire, but all these costumes are bloody...

I looked through the costumes. They all looked violent. I'm not exactly a violent kind of guy. Plus, Cadence thinks it's gross.

Oh, well. I'll try another aisle.

Leaving the aisle, I tripped over a costume wrapped in a bundle of plastic.

"AH!" I cried, as I fell face-first to the floor. I hit my beak.

"Ouch." I sat up, dusting myself off. Good one, Franky. Good one.

At least Cadence isn't here.

I picked up the costume I'd tripped over. It looked like some kind of monster or vampire. I flipped it over.

There wasn't a picture on the front. But I couldn't see any blood, and it said 'vampire' on a label.

Might as well try it.

I picked it up and waddled over to the entrance for the change rooms. Unfortunately, the two girls were standing right in front of the door.

"Uh..." I said awkwardly.

"Oops. Sorry," said the pony-girl. They both got out of the way, and I headed into the change rooms.

I unbuttoned the packet (yes, it was buttoned shut). Inside, there was a pair of bat-like wings and a black shirt. I pulled out the shirt. It was long-sleeved with a white skull on the front. Skulls usually freak me out, but this one wasn't really that freaky.

I pulled off my coat, hanging it on a rack. Then I tried on the costume.

It fit well, actually. I kinda like this. All I need is fangs.

"MWHAHA." I looked in the mirror, laughing evilly. I make a pretty epic vampire.

Okay, I'll get this. I put the costume back in the packet and put my regular clothes back on. Then I left the change rooms. The pony girl and her friend were gone. Cheyenne, the store girl, was still here, though.

"Found a good costume?" she asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah!"

"Good." She smiled and went back to her work.

Now I need to look for fangs. As I waddled down the aisles, I looked at all the creepy stuff. There was a section in the back just for masks, and they were really scary. The whole place gave me the creeps.

I found a pair of plastic fangs. Done. Bam.

I checked my phone. It's 8:56. Maybe I should check out, then I can look around.

...On second thought, do I really wanna look around?

I headed to the register, where a big bald man waved me over. I put my stuff on the counter, and he scanned it.

"280 coins, please," he said.

Hm. Not bad. I gave him the money, then took the costume and headed to the front of the store.

Everything in here is gonna stalk me in my sleep.

"Uhh." I shuddered as I noticed a statue of the Grim Reaper next to me. "Dad, hurry up."

8:59. C'mon, Dad. This Grim Reaper's freaking me out.

9. I started singing softly.

I need to do my homework. I have a boatload.

9:02.

9:03. Dad pulled into the parking-lot.

"Thank God!" I exclaimed, as I went outside and rain through the rain to the car. I got in, pulling the door shut.

"You look scared," Dad said.

"That place was freaky!"

****AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, I know I said I wouldn't do these! I'll only do them when it's necessary. Anyways...Towards the beginning, there's a part where there are asterisks at either end of it. That part was written by my 'storymate', Marianne! :3 Nost of you know her as ~Nneriamux4ever on deviantART. She liked the idea of pony costumes, so she wrote that segment for me to put in here! :)**

**Okay, I'm done talking. XD I promise to only do these when I need to.****


	20. Chapter 20: Midterms

"Who are we missing?" Mrs. Edgewood asked as she closed the door to the Spanish room.  
"Mickey, Devin, and Valerie," Kayleigh, in front of me, replied instantly. I rolled my eyes. She's really annoying.  
"And Harry," added Charles.

Cadence gave me a look, grinning as she rolled her eyes, too. I nodded.

"Thank you." Mrs Edgewood went to the front of the room. "There's something nasty going around, huh?"  
"I guess," Kayleigh said.

Cadence nudged me, and I looked at her. She passed me an index card.

She had written, '3 days til the dance! omg I can't wait.' in purple gel pen. I grabbed a pencil and wrote,  
'I know right? But I can't dance...'

I passed it back to her under the table. Mrs. Edgewood took something off her desk. "I hope everyone's studying for the test tomorrow. This is some complicated material. Even my best Spanish students have struggled with Chapter 5." She paused. "Today, we're going to do some more practice."

Cadence gave me the index card back. It said,

'It's easy. If all else fails, jump around like you know what you're doing.'  
I grinned, writing, 'Good plan.' I gave it back to her.

Mrs. Edgewood brought up some conjugation charts on the projector.

Cadence was paying attention now, which sucked, because I just wanted to talk to her.

I rested my flipper on my cheek, looking at the front of the room. I tried to pay attention, but felt myself zoning out.

...Cadence danced next me like she was a professional, putting me to shame and drawing the attention of a bunch of the boys around us. I tried to ignore them, but I was getting uncomfortable. Charles was standing across the room, with his flippers crossed and a ticked-off look on his face.

"C-Cadence, m-maybe we sh-should go over th-there." I pointed to an area where there was nobody.  
She looked at me. "But this is fun!"  
"Everyone's looking at you."  
She looked around. "I really like this song, though."  
I shrugged. I didn't know the song. "It's r-really awkward."  
"Franky, why are you stuttering? Just chill! Really, what's gonna happen?"  
"I d-don't know..."  
"Chill out!" Cadence stopped dancing, leading me over to a corner. She looked at me, grinning.

I blushed for a minute. Just when it was getting awkward, the DJ on the other side of the room put on a slow song.

"Okay, we'll slow things down for the first time tonight... Grab your favorite boy or girl, everyone..." he said.

Cadence blushed. "You wanna dance?"  
I smiled shyly. "I've never slow-danced before."  
She pulled me in, putting her flippers around my neck. "Me, neither."...

"Franky!"  
"Huh?" I jerked my head up, shaking it rapidly a few times. The class laughed. I went red.  
"Answer the question," Mrs. Edgewood said to me.  
"Uhh... I'm sorry, what?" I hadn't heard the question. Now my whole face was pink.  
"How do you conjugate this word?" She pointed at the board. She'd written a Spanish word I'd never seen before on it.  
"Umm..." I tilted my head to the side. "I... I have no idea..."  
The class laughed at me again. Cadence was writing rapidly on another index card. Mrs. Edgewood said,  
"Think hard. We learned this."  
I squinted my eyes. It's not that I couldn't see the board, it's just that I really didn't know how to conjugate this word.

Cadence nudged my hip under the table, sliding the index card to me. It had a chart of the word on it.

I repeated what the chart said to her, and Mrs. Edgewood nodded.  
"I don't appreciate you not paying attention in my class, Franky," she said to me as she erased the word. Charles was still laughing at me.  
"I'm sorry," I said softly. I wished I could crawl under the table and hide.

After Spanish, it was extra help. I was really anxious to get out of here, especially after what had just happened.

Kayleigh raised her flipper. Mrs. Edgewood called on her, and she said,  
"Do you have updates on our grades?"  
Cadence made a disgusted face. 'I can't stand her voice,' she mouthed to me. I grinned, nodding. Kayleigh's in the dance program, but she thinks she can do everything. Sing, play instruments, be the best student in school, anything. You name it, Kayleigh thinks she can do it. Cadence and I can't stand her, but mostly everyone else (including the teachers) worships her. It's obnoxious.

"Grades? Oh, thank you, Kayleigh! I almost forgot. I do have grades for you..." Mrs. Edgewood went over to her desk and took out a stack of papers.

She started handing them out. They go in alphabetical order.

"Hannah Alton... Henry Anderson... Jillian Bale..."

"Get to J already," I said softly, and Cadence giggled.  
"I know, right?"

She kept going through the names. I drew a bored penguin in the margin of my notes.

"... Ally Hendricks... Frederick Hill... Wendy Hopkins..."

I sighed. J, please?

"... Xavier Ingram... Madelyn Isle... Leslie Janson..."

Cadence made a face. She doesn't like her, either.

"Chad Jarvis..."

I gave my bored penguin a hat.

"... Franky Jones."

Finally. That took long enough.

Mrs. Edgewood put my paper face-down on the table in front of me.

I nervously picked it up. Please be above a C+, please be above a C+...

B-. Not bad. Not my best, but not bad. The average was an 80.4, though. Close to a C+.

I can barely speak English, let alone Spanish. So I give myself credit for this one.

"What'd ya get?" Cadence asked me, leaning over.  
"B-," I replied, shrugging. "Not bad."  
"That's good!" She smiled.  
I blushed. "Thanks."

Cadence fiddled with her gel pen. "I hope my grade is okay."  
"I'm sure it's fine," I said.  
"Fine by your standards, or by my parents'?"  
I shrugged. She giggled.

"... Kayleigh Moore..."

Cadence subtlely pretended to throw up. I laughed quietly.

She started writing next to my notes.

'Cadence was here,' she wrote. Then she made a winky face. I smiled at her.

"... Darcy Patterson... Bobbi Jo Pettimin... Wesley Pollik... Charlie Quince... Jay Rolenson..."  
"Oh, come ON, people! Why do you have such complicated last names?" Cadence complained softly.  
I laughed.

"... Cadence Sanders..."

"Ahh! That's me," Cadence said as Mrs. Edgewood gave her the grade. She picked up the paper, muttering a soft thank-you.

Her face lit up. "Yeahhhh!"  
"What?" I asked.  
"A+!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so happy!"  
I grinned. "Congrats."  
"Thanks!" She giggled, slapping the table excitedly.

"Cadence, shut up. Jeez," said Leslie Janson from across the room.  
"Hey!" Cadence said quietly. "I'm excited."  
"Yeah, but you're being obnoxious," Leslie retorted.  
"I-"

"Girls," Mrs. Edgewood said.

Cadence sighed, looking at me.  
"She killed my party," she said glumly.  
"We can party at extra help," I replied.  
"Okay."

-  
About 20 minutes later  
-

I slid onto the piano bench, playing a C sharp chord. Cadence sat next to me.

"You excited for Friday?" she asked me softly.  
I nodded. "I can't wait."  
"You've got a costume, right?"  
"Yeah, I'm going as a-"

She slapped her flipper over my beak, getting close to my face.

"Don't tell me, silly! I want to be surprised!"  
"Oh, sorry," I said, as she took her flipper off my beak.

"So listen, I wrote this song on Saturday that I think you'll like. It's about Halloween," she said.  
"That's awesome!" I said. "Can I hear it?"  
"That's the thing... It's meant for guitar. Can you...?" She gestured to my guitar, sitting next to us.

"Sure!" I got off the bench and took out my guitar. She gave me a piece of sheet music.

'Ghosts Just Wanna Dance' was the title. I started strumming, doubling the intro as she started talking.

"See where the writing's blue? Those are your parts," she said.  
"Oh, I have parts?"  
"Yup." She smiled, sitting on the ground next to me.

I started singing the song. It had a good beat, at least the way I was playing it. Cadence sang the choruses, and I sang the verses. It was cool.

When we finished, there was a moment of silence.

"Wow!" I said. "That was great, Cadence! But... It needs... It needs to get spruced up. Acoustic guitar doesn't really work with it. You need something electronic.

I put my guitar away and picked up the case, holding out my flipper to her. "C'mon," I said. "We're gonna go find Petey K."


	21. Chapter 21: Drumroll, Please

I waddled down the hallway, on my way to band practice. My guitar was at my side. The halls were crowded.

As I went, someone stuck out their flipper. I tripped, falling onto the ground. My guitar fell out of my flippers and I landed on my tummy with a loud 'OOF!'.

I took a second to catch my breath, sitting up. Charles was standing over me, laughing.

"What's the matter, Jones?" he asked. "Still in shock that your girlfriend ditched you?"  
"Three things. One, she's not my girlfriend, two, you tripped me, and three, she didn't ditch me. She'll be here tomorrow." Cadence wasn't here today. I was kinda nervous, wondering where she could be. I'll text her when I get home, though. Hopefully she's alright.  
"We'll see about that," he replied.  
I rolled my eyes. "Leave me alone, Charles. Feeling extra-mean today because Cadence isn't here for you to drool over during class?"  
"Oooh," said a couple penguins around us.  
I got up and picked up my guitar.

"I'm pretty sure you've got the wrong penguin. Maybe you wouldn't be getting C's and D's if you payed attention in class. Especially Spanish."  
"I'm not getting D's!"  
"Oh, excuse me. Only C's. In English, too."  
"Where do you hear this?"  
"I have my ways. And it's not that hard to overhear when you tell Cadence your grades in class."  
"Stalker."  
"Oh, yeah, I'M the stalker."  
"Shut up."  
"You shut up. Idiot. At least I'm getting A's. They never should've let you into this school." He paused, them muttered, "...dyslexic freak."  
I almost dropped my guitar. "ExCUSE me?!"  
"Yeah, you heard me." He grinned. "It's so obvious when you-"  
"Shut up," I said loudly, "about me! Shut up!"  
He crossed his flippers.  
"So what if I have dyslexia?! So what?! Seriously, Charles, stay out of my..." I cursed at him- "life and get a life of your own."  
"I have more of a life than you'll ever have."  
"Yeah, okay."  
"Get outta here."  
"You started it."  
"What is this, third grade? Man up," he said. Then he mimicked me. "You started it. Wah, wah, wah." His voice went up 3 octaves, then he started coughing. "Jeez! How do you do this on a daily basis?"  
"Do what?"  
"Keep your voice in the high C range."  
"Hey!"  
"It's true. First male soprano I've ever met."  
"I can't help that."  
"You could start by not acting like a first-grade girl when you're nervous or mad."  
"That's not true!" It was the worst comeback ever. My voice went high again.  
"That's not true!" He mimicked me again. "Get lost."  
"You're the instigator, not me."  
"Welcome to third grade, starring the marvelous Franky Jones," he said sarcastically.  
"I'm leaving." I started to waddle away.  
"Coward! Wow, everyone! He's stupid, wimpy, and a coward. New record. Alert the media!"  
"I'm not stupid. Or wimpy. Or a coward."  
"Whatever, Jones. I'm done with you."  
I glared at him. "Why are you so mean to me?"  
"Because you're stupid."  
"I'm not stupid!"

He rolled his eyes and waddled away in the other direction.

I sighed. "Sorry about that, everyone." I waddled down the hallway towards the auditorium.

In middle school and elementary school, I usually stayed out of the mean kids' way. Nobody really bothered with me. They just let me be the social outcast that I was.

I felt really shaken-up that Charles had called me out for being dyslexic. I hadn't told anyone here, not even Cadence. Now, the kids who had been watching us knew. There was no doubt that it'd get around the school. Mike was even worse than Charles, and once it got to him, he'd go nuts. It'd be online and everywhere.

I didn't know I had dyslexia until 5th grade. I was always at least a grade below the reading level I was supposed to be at. It took me a long time to start talking and even longer to read and write. It's why I'm so bad at English and Spanish. Grammar's the worst thing ever for me.

I know it shouldn't, but it makes me embarrassed. I feel like I should be getting better grades. If the school accepted me, I should be living up to their expectations. It takes a lot to get in.

Someone fell into step with me as I waddled down the hallway. I looked to my right. It was Devin, my 'locker-neighbor'.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.  
"What?" I replied.  
"Uh... Charles was giving you some pretty tough crap back there. Are you okay?"  
"I'm fine." I looked at the ground. "I get it from him a lot."  
"Yeah, I know. Don't listen to him."  
"It's not really that easy."  
"Oh." He paused, then grinned, sighing loudly. "Don't you just love mean kids?"  
"Sure. We'll go with that."  
"Cool." He looked at a clock on the wall. "Oh, CRAP! I gotta go, sorry. My friend's waiting for me."  
"Oh, that's okay." I waved at him as he took off down the hallway the other way, waving at me as he went.

I shrugged, going down a flight of stairs.

I ran down the hall to the auditorium door, then opened it. I was greeted by a loud crash, then a scream.

"DUDE!" someone said. I surveyed the scene. G-Billy's cymbal was vibrating like he'd just hit it, and he was laughing. Stompin' Bob, the source of the scream, was holding onto his head. Petey K just stood there grinning.

"Well, hey there, Franky!" Petey K said to me.  
"Hi!" I came up onto the stage, looking around. "What.. what happened?"  
"G-Billy tried to split my eardrums..." Stomp replied.  
"Sorry." G-Billy was obviously not sorry, but Stomp was grinning.  
"Okay. Guys. Now that we're all here..." Stompin' Bob started. "I have an announcement. An important announcement."  
"What?" I put down my guitar.  
"Guess."  
"You flunked first-quarter Science!" G-Billy cried.  
Stompin' Bob rolled his eyes. "No. Whatever, I'll skip to the point." He paused. "Drumroll, please?"

G-Billy rolled on the snare drum. I did a drumroll on my guitar case.

"Okay, okay, enough drumroll." He grinned at us. "We have a gig next Friday!"


	22. Chapter 22: It's Happening

I sat down at the piano bench, fiddling with the collar of my shirt as I looked around anxiously. Why isn't Cadence here?! She told me yesterday that she'd be fine to come to school today. Why isn't she here?! I'm having a panic attack here. The dance is in less than 3 hours, and as far as I know, she's still at home, sick! What am I gonna do?

I got up and started pacing. I can't sit still. Is Cadence faking sick to blow me off? Or what if she's got something really bad? What if she's scared, and doesn't want to go with me? I'm nervous. Of all the times she could get sick, it's right now.

Figures.

I sighed, grabbing my sketchpad and sitting down on the bench again. I started drawing my nervous self, holding on to one of my elbows and looking around. In a few minutes, there I was. It doesn't take that long for me to make a drawing.

Okay, I need to figure out where she is. I reached into my backpack and pulled out my phone. It's free period, why shouldn't I be allowed to use it?

I started typing a text to her, but right then, my phone died. I groaned in frustration, put my phone away, and pulled a pear out. I'm starving.

I bit into it. It was bruised, but better than nothing. I chewed for a few seconds, then took another bite.

I sat there for a few minutes, then put my pear to the side and started playing the piano. I messed around with chords for a few minutes, then reached into my backpack and took out some homework from my Musical Theory class. It wasn't very hard, in fact, it was really easy. I had it done in about 5 minutes. I put it away and took out my songbook.

Closing my eyes, I played a few chords from a song that Stompin' Bob had shown me yesterday in practice. It was one of the songs for our gig next week, called "Intermission". He had written it, and it was really good. It was slow, emotional, and deep.

I started singing, with my eyes still closed. Although he had written it months before he met me, Stomp had altered the melody to fit my voice.

I only knew up to the end of the first chorus, though. I stopped, opening my eyes and flipping the page in my notebook.

We were playing at a seafood joint downtown called The Wave. They had been looking for entertainment, and Stomp had volunteered us. We were getting paid 90 coins an hour, which was pretty good considering we'd be there for three or four hours. We'd split up whatever we earned.

I was excited. I'd never done something like this before.

I looked over at the clock. 4:30. Still 15 minutes left. I just wanna go home now, so I can figure out what's going on with Cadence.

C'mon, clock. Go faster.

-  
About 25m later  
-

I pushed open the door, throwing my backpack down. "I'm going to my room, Mom," I said as I put my phone on the charger and headed up the stairs. I went into my room, then sat down on my bed, letting out an exasperated sigh. My vampire costume hung from my closet door. I needed to call Cadence and see what was going on, but my phone was charging.

I guess I can use the house phone.

I went back out of my room and went down the stairs two steps at a time. Mom was talking on her cell phone in the living-room. I took the house phone off the charger and took a deep breath.

I dialed Cadence's cell phone number.

Holding it up to my head, I sat at the kitchen-table.

It rang twice, then I got the busy signal.

Sure, why not. Who could Cadence be calling right now?

I hung up, then tried again. Still busy.

I put the phone on the table, hiding my face in my flippers. I was nervous right now.

I tried calling one more time. Two rings, three, four...

"Hello?"  
"Cadence!" I cried.  
"Franky! I was just trying to call you..." She sounded really stuffed-up. "I'm SO sorry, Franky..."  
"What?" I asked as I ran up the stairs to my room, closing the door.  
"I'm... I'm kinda sick," she said.  
"Oh." I laid down on my bed. "So... you're not coming?"  
"Oh, Franky, I begged my mom to let me go, but I've got a fever of 102 and she keeps telling me I need to stay home..."  
"It's okay." I sighed.  
"Franky, I'm sorry..." She sounded sad. "I was really looking forward to this..."  
"Me, too." I paused. "So what were you gonna go as?"  
"A.. a chicken..."  
"A what?"  
She giggled, then coughed a few times. "Funny, huh?"  
"Yeah." I smiled faintly. "So what's the plan for your night, then?"  
"Sit here and watch TV, most likely."  
"That stinks."  
"I feel worse for you. I told you I'd go with you and then I blew you off... You'll find someone to dance with, I promise."  
"Cadence... I'm not going."  
"Why not?!" Now she sounded surprised.  
"Because I'm not going."  
"Why?"  
"Because. I'm not going without you."

There was a silence. Then she said, "That's sweet, but you're costing yourself a lot of fun, Franky."  
"No, I'm not."  
"Yes, you..." She trailed off. "Nevermind, nevermind."

She sneezed.  
"Bless you," I said.  
I heard a smile in her voice. "Thanks."

After that, we just sat there. There was silence. She was still there, but not saying anything.

"I'm so sorry," she said to me.  
"Please don't apologize, it's not your fault."  
"Franky?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Why don't you go? It'll be fun. You should go."  
"I really don't wanna..." I looked out the window. It was getting darker. Right now, it was 5:11. The dance started at 6.  
"But you should. You'll have so much fun!"  
"No, I won't." I sighed. "I won't have anyone to hang out with."  
"Is your band going?"  
"I don't know. I think Petey K and G-Billy are. Stomp isn't."  
"Then go hang out with them! What's wrong with going in a group?" She sniffed a few times.  
"I don't wanna."  
She let out a big sigh. "At least think about it. Can you do that for me?"  
"Sure."  
"Good. I've gotta go. My mom's trying to get me off the phone."  
"Okay. Bye."  
"Bye."

I hung up the phone, and laid there for a few seconds. Then I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow. Why now? Why did she have to get sick now?

I went back downstairs and glumly put the phone back on the charger.

Mom came out of the living-room. "Yes."  
"Okay. Bye, Deborah." She hung up her cell-phone. "That woman, I swear... She can talk for hours and hours..." Deborah was my mom's coworker, and she does talk a LOT.

"Franky, we have to go around quarter of," she said.  
"I'm not going," I announced.  
"Yes, you are," she replied. "Why wouldn't you go?"  
"Because Cadence is sick."  
"Cadence is sick?"  
I nodded. "She has a fever of 102."  
"Oh, poor girl."  
"She was looking forward to it so much."  
"That really stinks."  
I nodded.

Mom sat at the table across from me. "You really don't wanna go, huh? You'd have so much fun!"  
"I don't wanna go, Mom."  
"Why not? It's your first school dance! So exciting."  
I shrugged. "Not really."  
"Why are you so grumpy?"  
"Mom, my date to the Halloween Dance has a 102 fever. Would you be grumpy?"  
"You can still go!"  
"Mom, I don't wanna go. Please stop."  
She sighed. "Fine... your loss, y'know."  
I sighed. "Sure."

Mom got up and went back into the living-room. I looked at the phone, suddenly getting an idea.

I grabbed the phone again, dialing. This time, I dialed Cadence's home phone, hoping her mom would pick up.

Two rings, then a voice. "Hello?" Cadence's mom.  
"H-hi, Mrs. Sanders, th-this is Franky Jones, from sc-school... I... I was s-supposed to go with C-Cadence to the dance..." My nervous stutter was back, and I was talking really fast. "S-see, m'aam, I-I was wondering if m-maybe I could come over and h-hang out for a little while... b-b-but if you don't want m-me to, th-that's totally okay..." I took a breath. "A-and if she's in the r-room, please don't mention m-me.."  
"Oh, hi, Franky! She's not in the room, don't worry... It's nice to meet you! Or... hear you? I'm not sure..." She laughed, and so did I, softly.  
"You, too," I said.  
"Well... Do you mean right now?"  
"W-well... I g-guess..."  
"Cadence is just in the other room watching TV... It's not very interesting here..."  
"I-if you don't w-want me to come, tha-that's okay..."  
"Would your parents be okay with it?"  
"Probably..."  
"Then I'd say it's fine if you come over, but Cadence won't be doing much..."  
"R-really?"  
"Sure! Why not. When will you come?"  
"In maybe 15 m-minutes?"  
"Why not. C'mon over. See you soon?"  
"Th-thank you!"  
"You're welcome. Bye, now."  
"B-bye!"

She hung up on the other end. I put the phone down.

"Mooommmm," I called, waddling into the living-room. "Will you drive me to Cadence's?"

15 minutes later, I was standing on Cadence's front steps. My mom pulled out of the driveway as I waved at her.

I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

In a few seconds, Cadence's mom answered. She was a short pink penguin with medium-length dirty-blonde-ish hair. She had on a purple sweater and a matching necklace.

"Hello, Franky!" She smiled warmly. "It's nice to meet you!"  
I held out a flipper. "You, too!"  
She shook my flipper. "Come in!"

The inside of Cadence's house was pretty. The walls in the kitchen were painted a light cream. It was neat, and a door to the right looked like it led into another room.

"Cadence is right in there." She pointed to the door.  
"Does she know I'm here?"  
Mrs. Sanders shook her head, smiling. "She'll be happy to see you."  
"You think so?"  
"Yes." She nodded.  
I smiled, starting for the door.

I opened it, taking a deep breath.

Inside, there was a lamp glowing. and the TV was on. Cadence sat on the couch, curled up into a green blanket. She was pale and there was a box of tissues next to her. In her lap was her phone, and next to the couch there was a coffee table. There was an empty bowl on the table, and a sweating glass of water.

I closed the door behind me, and she looked over.

Her eyes widened. "Fr-Franky?" She sounded even more stuffed-up when she wasn't on the phone.  
I smiled shyly, going bright red. "Hi."  
"Wh-what are you doing here?"  
I shrugged. "I called your mom, she told me I could come over..."  
"Why aren't you at the dance?"  
"I told you. I didn't wanna go without you."  
She blushed, then said, "Here." She scooted over on the couch, patting the spot next to her. "Come sit with me."

I went over to the couch and sat down. She pulled the blanket over the two of us, and reached for the remote.

"What do you wanna watch?"  
I shrugged, smiling. "I like this show." A singing show called What It Takes was on.  
She grinned. "Okay."

It was a commercial. I said,  
"You sound bad."  
"I know. This sucks."  
"I bet."  
"Of all times I could catch this stupid fever, I catch it now."  
"Exactly."  
"Sorry to ruin it, Franky."  
"You didn't ruin it."  
"Yes, I did."  
"No, you didn't. We're not gonna have an argument like this. Got it?"  
She giggled. "Got it."

The show came back on, and as we watched, she hesitantly started to lean towards me. I tilted myself towards her a little, and for a minute, it was awkward. Then I put my flipper around her shoulders, and she let herself fall onto my waiting shoulder. She rubbed up against me, and for awhile, we just sat there like that. No talking, just the TV. It was nice.

"Hey, Cadence...?" I said after awhile.  
"Yeah?" she said softly.  
"Can you promise me that... when we see each other at school on Monday... we won't be all awkward?"  
"Huh?"  
"Y'know. Penguins, they... they do this. They act all... like this, around each other, and then they see each other and they act awkward."  
"I won't act awkward."  
"You sure?"  
"Positive. Now, shhhh. I wanna hear this girl sing."

I laughed and looked back at the TV.

Cadence reached for my flipper that wasn't around her shoulders. I slid it towards her under the blanket, and she held it tightly.

I really couldn't believe what was happening. How could Cadence, the most beautiful, most talented girl ever, like a guy like me? It was hard to believe.

But it's happening.

-  
About 2 hours later  
-

I moved my flipper a little, which woke Cadence up. She opened her eyes, looking at me sleepily as I smiled at her. She smiled back, and asked,  
"How long did I sleep for?"  
"'Bout 45 minutes."  
"Is your mom here?"  
"Not yet."  
"Oh, okay." She paused. "Hey, Franky?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I apologize in advance for the cold you're now going to have because you touched my flipper."  
"It's okay. We'll both have a sick weekend."  
"Deal." She laughed, coughing a little.  
"Hey, guess what?"  
"What?"  
"Me and the band, we have a gig next Friday."  
"Really?!"  
"Yeah!"  
"Oh, that's so awesome, Franky!" She wrapped both flippers around me and gave my belly a squeeze. "Congrats!"  
"Thanks." I blushed.  
"What do you think you'll sing?"  
"Some original stuff..."  
"Maybe I'll get my mom to drive me... Where is it?"  
"The Wave. Y'know, downtown?"  
She nearly leapt off the couch. "Franky, that's where my dad's fish ships into!"  
"Really?"  
"Yeah! That's so funny!"  
"Yeah, it is."  
She smiled at me, partly letting go of me.

For a few seconds, we sat there face-to-face, then we heard the door opening and I let go of her.

"Franky, your mom's here," Mrs. Sanders said.  
"Awww." Cadence looked at me. "See you later."  
"Bye." I got up, winking at her as I headed for the door. She winked back, and I went out into her kitchen. Mom was there, near the front door.

"Hi, Mom!" I said cheerfully.  
"Hi, Franky," she said, grinning.

"Thank you!" I said to Mrs. Sanders as I started for the door.  
"You're a sweet boy, Franky," she said to me, opening up the front door.  
I smiled. "Tell my mom that."  
She laughed, and so did Mom.  
"Bye, Riley. It was nice to meet you," Mom said to her.  
"You, too." Mrs. Sanders smiled.  
"Thank you!" I said again as I headed for Mom's car. She waved as I got into the passenger seat. Mom started the car and we went down the road.

"So how'd it go?" she asked.  
"Good," I said.  
"Good, that's it?"  
"Who are you, Dad?"  
We both laughed.


	23. Chapter 23: Sick Day

I woke up feeling lightheaded. It was raining, and I still felt really stuffed-up. I rolled over and turned off my alarm clock, sniffling and wiping my beak.

After being with Cadence on Friday night, I had woken up with her cold on Saturday. I'd had it all weekend, and still felt like total crap. Even though I'd been home all weekend, there was no improvement.

I hate Mondays.

"Mooooommmm," I called.

No answer.

"Moooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmm," I called again, this time louder.

"What?" Mom called from downstairs.

"Can you come up here?"

"Why?"

"Because."

I heard Mom's flipper-steps coming up the stairs, then down the hall. She opened the door to my room.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I feel like crap."

"Still?"

"Yeah."

"Tough it out. You're fine to go to school. C'mon, get up. We have to leave in 20 minutes."

"Mom, I really don't feel good."

"You're fine, Franky. Get up."

"Can you at least take my temperature?"

"Franky, you're fine."

"Please!"

She sighed loudly. "Get up and come downstairs. Then I'll take your temperature," she said, closing the door and waddling out of the room.

I groaned, sitting up. "I don't wanna..." I said under my breath. There's no way I'm gonna be able to function at school today.

I stumbled over to my closet. I opened it and pulled out my green hoodie with the comfy orange inside, then a white t-shirt. Then I made my way over to the dresser and took a pair of faded jeans out of a drawer. Good enough, I guess.

I made my bed and changed out of my pajamas, muttering about how pointless it was for me to be getting dressed because I knew I had a fever.

After that, I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I splashed some water on the feathers on my face, and looked in the mirror. I look sick. Oh, wait... I am sick.

I waddled down the stairs, mumbling about random things. Mom was at the counter, and Dad was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Dad?" I asked.

"He went for a run," Mom replied.

"Oh." I sat at the table, burying my face in my flippers. I heard Mom sit in the chair next to me.

She tapped my flipper. "C'mon, Franky, I need to take your temperature."

I looked up, taking the thermometer from her and putting it in my beak.

"Don't move. Just wait for it to beep." She got up and went back over to the counter.

I sat there for a minute, then it beeped. She came over and took it out of my beak, then grimaced.

"What?" I asked.

"102.1," she replied. "You can't go to school."

"See? I was right. I got all dressed and ready for nothing." I got up and started up the stairs.

"Sorry," Mom called. "Bad judgement."

I sighed, going into my room and flopping onto the bed. I told her, and she didn't listen.

Moms.

Ugh.

I sat up, pulling off my sweatshirt and t-shirt. It was too hot in my room. When I get sick, I'm either boiling-hot or freezing-cold. There's no in-between.

I went to my closet, putting my jeans back and putting on a blue t-shirt. So much for school clothes.

What am I supposed to do?! I'm so bored...

Ugh...

Later that day, around 1 PM

I sat down on my beanbag, taking my trumpet out of the case and holding it to my beak. I can't even sing. I guess I'm practicing trumpet.

I blew into it randomly, without trying to play a note. It made an annoying, loud noise, and I laughed. Then I coughed, wiping my beak.

I started playing one of our band songs. It was a marching-band song that was really hard. Although I'm not in marching band, the school does have one that plays at town football games and stuff. There are a lot of different bands at school. There's the regular concert band, a jazz band, a band that plays rock music, and an orchestra-type arrangement. I take a lot of extra music classes.

I played the highest note on my trumpet. I hope the neighbors aren't home... they hate it when I practice loudly.

Right now, I was home alone- Mom and Dad were both at work. I was really bored, and felt like crap. I didn't have any appetite and just wanted to shrivel up and go to sleep.

The problem? It was too hot in my room to sleep.

I reached for my guitar, bored of my trumpet. I played a few notes, then started playing a song for the gig on Friday. Although I couldn't sing (I was too stuffed-up to sound good), I could practice my parts.

I looked at my calendar absentmindedly. Halloween was on Wednesday, and Stompin' Bob had invited me to his house to hand out candy to kids. He lives in a really busy neighborhood, and wanted some help. Cadence was coming, too. We had all started planning pranks to pull on older kids, and it was gonna be awesome.

I looked over at my costume, which was still hanging in my closet. At least I'll get to use it once.

I felt a tickle in my throat. Oh, no.

I sneezed one, two, three, four, five times.

"Bless me!"


	24. Chapter 24: Happy Halloween

"It-It's kinda spooky out here, Stomp..." I said softly.  
"There's a lantern in the tree-house," he replied. "C'mon."

The leaves crunched under our flippers as we waddled through the woods. Why we were doing this on Halloween night I didn't know, but Stompin' Bob had told me PH would meet us out here. Cadence wasn't coming for another half hour (it was 5:30).

"Remind me why we're out here?" I asked.  
"Because," he said.  
"Ooh, great explanation," I said sarcastically. He laughed.

He let me go up the rope ladder first, then he came up. He turned on the lantern that was hanging from the ceiling. PH wasn't here yet.

"So what do you think?" he asked, pointing to himself. "Is this costume cool?"  
I nodded. "Yeah." He was dressed as a zombie rockstar. He managed to look way more cool than me.  
"I like yours, too."  
"Did you end up going to the dance?"  
"Nope. Was it fun?"  
"Er... Cute story, actually. I didn't go."  
His eyes widened. "Why? Did something happen between you and Cadence?"  
"No... she got a cold."  
"Ooh, that sucks. Well, don't worry, there are plenty of other dances during the year."  
"Like what?"  
"There's... the Holiday Dance, the Valentines' Dance, semi in March, the spring dance in April, and the graduation dance, but we can't go to that. Just the seniors."  
"Oh. Wow."  
"Yeah." He grinned. "It starts out with not that many dances, but after the first semester's over, it gets way more fun."  
"Do you think you'll go to any dances this year?"  
He shrugged. "Prob'bly not."  
"Why? You can't just leave me there alone with no guys to hang out with except G-Billy and Petey. They're nuts."  
He burst out laughing. "Dude, that made my day."  
I pretended to take a bow. He sighed.

"So what exactly are we doing?"  
"What, tonight? Just terrorizing the children. No big deal."  
"Really?"  
"No. Just the teenagers. PH is good with kids; she'll do all the little kid stuff."  
"Do you do this every year?"  
"Nope."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah."

After a minute, we heard someone coming through the woods in our direction.

"That's PH," he whispered, turning off the lantern. "Be quiet."

I nodded, crawling to the corner of the tree-house. He stood, poised at the entrance. I grinned, knowing that PH was about to get the crap scared out of her.

I heard her coming up the ladder, then as she reached the top, Stomp let out a loud cry of, "BOO!" She shrieked, and Stomp started laughing. I turned the lantern back on. Stomp had jumped on her or something, because she was now in his lap and laughing.

"You-" She pretended to slap Stomp on the cheek. "That scared the daylights out of me!"  
"I know, that was the point," he replied.  
"G'day, Franky..." she said to me, getting off Stomp's lap. He gave her a sad puppy-dog-eyed face, and she sighed, leaning on his shoulder and taking his flipper. She had on a fuzzy-looking red sweater and matching flipper-warmers. On her head, she had on a beanie with big eyes and a smile on it, and she wore red fuzzy boots. I was confused and had no idea what she was. She could tell, because she said,

"I'm a puffle, mate. You probably don't know what it is."  
"No, I don't," I said.  
She smiled. "Not many penguins do."

Stomp put a flipper around her back, and muttered, "Hey."  
"Hiya." She smiled. "Ready to scare some innocent penguins?"  
"Yep."

-  
About 1h later  
-

"Stomp, stop it!" PH held the candy bowl away from him. "This isn't for you!"  
"Yeah, but it's really good." Stomp tried to grab away the bowl from her, but she wrapped her flippers around it, holding on tightly.  
"Cadence, Franky, help!" she cried. "I'm being attacked!"  
"Can I have some candy?" I asked, using an annoying voice.  
"You're not helping!"

"Guys," Cadence said, "here comes some kids."  
A few kids were coming down the path. One was dressed as a ghost, one, a bumblebee, and the last one, a Frankenstein. They looked around 9, and there was a teenage girl trailing behind them, talking on her phone.

PH waddled up to our table on the sidewalk, putting the bowl down on it. Cadence stood beside her, and the bumblebee one ran up to the table.

"Trick or treat!" he cried, holding his pumpkin-shaped bag up to PH.  
"G'day!" she said as his two friends came up behind him. "Here ya go, mates..."  
"You talk funny," the Frankenstein one observed.  
"No, I'm just Australian," she replied with a laugh.  
"What's that mean?"  
"It means I come from Australia. Do ya know where that is?"  
"No." They shook their heads.  
"It's far away from here."  
"Why does it make you talk funny?"  
Cadence nudged me, then met my eyes, grinning. I grinned back.

"So many questions," she muttered.  
I laughed softly. "Yep."

"I'm not exactly sure, mate."  
"That's not my name. My name's Brandon."  
"Oops. Sorry."  
"That's okay."

They took back their bags, which PH had out some candy into.

"Thank you!" called the bee one as they waddled away.  
PH turned back to us. "Rude kid," she said softly.  
"And his sister just stood there on her phone, ignoring him," Stompin' Bob added.  
"Yeah." PH took a lollipop out of the bowl, unwrapping it and licking it. "Mm, candy."  
"Hey! I thought you said we couldn't have any." Stompin' Bob crossed his flippers.  
"Oh, fine. But don't eat it all."

I grabbed a Tootsie Roll, and gave Cadence one. Then I sat back down in the chair that was mine. There were 4 folding chairs behind the table, one for each of us.

I reached for Cadence's flipper, taking it and scooting my chair closer to hers.

"Aww. How adorable." Stomp grinned.  
"Don't get any ideas," PH mumbled. "My dad's most likely watching us like a hawk from inside."  
"Probably." He leaned back in his chair.  
"Where are G-Billy and Petey K?" Cadence asked.  
"They took candy duty at Billy's place. They'll drop by later when the real fun begins."  
"Real fun?" I tilted my head.  
"C'mon, you don't know about this yet? How long have you lived in Pine Heights?"  
"What kind of a question is that?" I asked.  
"A normal one."  
"Okay, since July."  
"Oh, explains a lot."  
"Yep. So what's the real fun?"  
"When it gets dark out, there's a bonfire down by Still Lake."  
"At what time?"  
"Whenever the little kids go home."  
"Who goes?"  
"Any teen that wants to."  
"Are we allowed to do that...?"  
"Yeah. Do you guys have a curfew?" He looked from me to Cadence.  
"Yeah, 10:30," I replied.  
"Same for me," Cadence added.  
PH's eyes practically popped out of her head. "Crikey! That's your regular curfew?"  
"No, it's just because it's Halloween..." Cadence said.  
"Mine's normally 9:30," I said.  
"Yeah, that's mine, too," Cadence said.  
"You're so lucky!" PH cried. "I've gotta be home by 9 tonight."  
Stomp's face fell. "Seriously?"  
She nodded. "Yeah..."

More kids came up and got candy. This time, they weren't as rude, but one of them tried to take a lot more than just a flipper-full. PH had to stop him.

"So what do you do there?" I asked as we all sat back down.  
"Whatever you want to, really. Kids bring marshmallows, scare other penguins, go swimming... That kind of stuff."  
"Swimming?"  
"These are teenagers we're talking about. Yes. Swimming."  
I winced. "Awkward."  
"Indeed," PH said.

I looked over at Cadence. She had somewhat girl-ized her chicken costume, but still looked cute. The kids kept laughing at her, which I thought was mean.

She noticed me looking at her, and blushed. I squeezed her flipper, and she squeezed it back. PH and Stomp started talking about something, and I moved my chair closer to hers again.

"Hey," I said softly, leaning in. The tip of her beak touched mine, and she blushed more. Her face was a magenta-ish color.  
"Hey," she replied. We sat there for a few seconds. For a minute, I actually thought we might kiss, but she got up to give some more kids some candy.

Stompin' Bob had noticed what happened, and was now laughing as the kids waddled away.

"Kids. Always killing the moment," he said.  
"True story." I put my flipper around Cadence's shoulders. "That was a fail."  
"What happened?" PH asked.  
"Oh, nothing."

-  
About 1.25 hours later  
-

"If we get in trouble with my dad, it was your idea," PH muttered to Stomp as she buckled her seatbelt.  
"We won't," Stomp said. "Don't worry. You're lucky my parents are even letting me drive this thing."

I buckled up. Cadence sat next to me, putting on her seatbelt and closing the car door. Stomp started the car, and we started driving down the road.

"This is not a good idea..." PH said.  
"C'mon, baby, chill. We'll be fine, I promise," Stomp said. "Everyone in town goes to this. It's not like we'll be the only ones there."  
"Don't call me that," she said in reply.

Cadence looked at me, raising her eyes. I grinned, nodding.

"Everything okay, you two? You seem a little uptight..." Cadence said with a grin.  
"It's not me, it's her!" Stompin' Bob pointed to PH. She swatted his flipper away, and he caught her flipper mid-air, taking it across the console.  
"I'm fine, mates, it's just I'm nervous that we're gonna get into trouble at the party."  
"We won't." Stomp brought her flipper up to his cheek. Meanwhile, I wrapped my flipper around Cadence's back. This was a first for me, since I usually put it around her shoulders. I felt her jump, but she relaxed and leaned on me.

Stomp turned on the radio. "Oh, God, no." He switched the station quickly. A really annoying and overplayed song was playing.  
"D'aww... This song is romantic." PH smiled. The song that was on was "Just Give Me A Reason" by Pink.  
"No, it's not, but have it your way..." Stomp put both his flippers back on the wheel.  
"This song is overrated," Cadence said to me.  
"Agreed." I smiled.  
"Quite the song for their situation, huh?" Cadence gestured up front. I laughed.

"What's so funny?" Stomp asked.  
"Oh, nothing."  
"Oh, something."  
"No."  
"Fineeee..."

When we got to the lake, there was already a big bonfire and a LOT of penguins there. I couldn't recognize anyone immediately, but knew I would.

"All right, a couple things." Stomp turned off the car, facing us in the back. "One, PH, stay here for a sec, I need to talk to you." PH nodded. "Two, you two... watch out for the public-school kids, okay? Most of them are nice, but there are a few jerks. You'll be able to tell who they are. They're huge." Cadence and I nodded. "Three, if someone offers you alchohol or a cigarette, don't take it. I'm serious." He looked around. "Kay, I think that's it. You got phones?" He was talking to Cadence and I.  
I nodded, and Cadence said, "Yeah."  
"Okay, let's meet back here at 10:15. PH, don't worry, I'll take you home when you need to go home."  
PH nodded.  
"Alright, that's it. Have fun, you two. We'll probably see you."  
"Bye!" I opened the car door for Cadence, and we got out. Then I closed the door, and we started down the hill towards the lake.

"You scared, too, or is it just me?" she asked, taking my flipper.  
"I'm a little nervous," I said.  
"What shall we do?"  
"Find someone we know."  
"Alright."

We went down to the bonfire, where a bunch of penguins were sitting around it. I looked around. I couldn't see anyone, and neither could Cadence. After a second, though, I spotted the blond hair that could only belong to Petey K. Next to him was G-Billy. Petey was dressed as a mummy, and G-Billy was a creepy ghost-like guy.

Petey saw us first. He waved us over, and we went over to him.

"Hi!" I said.  
"'Sup?" he asked.  
"What's goin' on, y'all?" G-Billy said.  
"Not much..." I replied.  
"Where's Stomp?" he asked.  
I shrugged. Cadence said, "Oh, just making out with PH in the car."

The four of us burst out laughing.  
"I like her, Franky. She's a keeper," Petey K said.  
"Thanks." Cadence bowed.  
"I can't believe that PH's dad let her come here," he observed.  
"Me, neither..." G-Billy muttered.

"Okay, anyway. Here." Petey K handed me a marshmallow, and gave one to Cadence. "These are yours."  
"Thanks." I turned it over in my flipper.  
"If you want another one, I'll be here."  
"Got it."

-  
About 1.5h later  
-

Cadence sat down, looking out towards the lake. I sat next to her, looking at her. We had come down to the shore of the lake to escape the crowd a little.

"You're really pretty," I said softly.  
She blushed. "Aww. Thanks, Franky."  
"It's true." I put my flipper around her back again. "Hey, Cadence?"  
"Yeah?" She looked over at me.  
"I like you."

I felt myself blushing, even though I knew she knew that already. She blushed, too. Right now, both of us were really deep shades of red.

"I know," she replied. "And you know that I like you, too."  
I smiled. "Really?"  
"Of course. You've known that, Franky."  
"Yeah..."

She wrapped her flippers around me, hugging me tightly. "You're the best friend I've ever had."  
My stomach flipped as I hugged her back. "R-really?"  
"Mmhmm." She pulled her head away from the hug, sitting there with her flippers wrapped around my neck. I was about to lean in for a kiss when there was a loud cry of "BOO!" from behind us. She jumped, clinging to me as I looked around for the source of the noise. It was G-Billy, Stompin' Bob, and Petey K. They were in the trees behind us.

"Trolls," I muttered.  
"Happy Halloween!" G-Billy cried.


	25. Chapter 25: Gig Night

I never realized how nervous I would get today.

I always get stage fright, but never like this.

This gig will be my first real performance as part of a band.

If I dissapoint the guys, they could kick me out.

I don't wanna be kicked out.

I sat down on a bench. C'mon, Franky, breathe. Everything's fine.

I always get nervous before I perform. I've done talent shows and youth singing contests before, so it's not like this is the first time I'll have an audience. I had no idea why I was so nervous. Maybe it was just the pressure. Stomp, G-Billy, and Petey K are older than me, and they're expecting a lot of me tonight. I really need to bring it.

Right now, I was on a bench out back at The Wave. We had come back here to warm up. Everything smelled like fish here, and it was a little weird. But I wasn't complaining- a gig's a gig.

The whole area back here was made into a little courtyard. It was small, but something. There was a rock patio made of brown and gray stones. The chairs and benches were all stained a fading yellow-brown. At the back, there was a wire fence, which kind of ruined the peaceful mood. I wasn't really sure why the courtyard was even back here at all, but it was. Penguins perform here a lot, though, so maybe it was just here for performers to warm up and stuff. Even so, it was out-of-place in the suburban atmosphere.

Stomp came over and sat down next to me. "You alright? You look uptight."  
"I'm fine, j-just n-nervous..." I replied.  
"Aw, I feel bad for you, buddy. Don't worry. You'll do great. We all will."  
"It's not that I th-think I w-won't do g-good, it's j-just that if I-I were t-to m-mess up, I'd f-feel like I d-dissa-dissapointed you guys."  
"No matter what happens, we won't be dissapointed, I promise. It's only your first gig! And it's one of our first too. So just relax and have fun."  
"A-alright."

I looked up at him and realized that he looked just as uptight and nervous as I felt.

"Are y-you alright?" I asked.  
He nodded. "I'll be right back." He got up, went over to his bass case, and pulled something silver out of it. Sticking whatever it was in his pocket, he turned to face us. G-Billy was twirling his drumsticks, and Petey K was tuning King Blue (his electric guitar).

"Guys, I've gotta use the bathroom. Be right back," he said.  
"Kay," G-Billy replied.

Then he went over to the door and went inside the restaurant. I wondered what the silver thing was, then it hit me-

- his scissors.

My stomach flipped. I wish he wouldn't do that. It scares penguins. You never know what could happen. One cut too deep and he's dead. Cut the wrong vein, dead. It's scary to think about.

I waddled over to my stuff and got my guitar out. I guess I should start tuning; we're on in 20 minutes.

I sat down next to my case, plucking the first string and starting to tune.

After about 7 minutes, Stomp came back. He put his scissors away and sat next to me with his bass.

"D-Does it scare you?" I asked.  
He raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"  
"Does it s-scare you?" I repeated.  
"I have no idea what you're talking about."  
"Cutting, St-Stomp." My voice was more quiet now. "Does th-that scare you?"  
"No." He looked down at his bass.  
"Why n-not?"  
"Because I'm used to it."  
"Oh."

He cursed under his breath, reaching for his case again. He pulled out a few tissues, pressing them to his left flipper.

"What's wrong?" I asked.  
"Nothing..." He wrapped the tissues around his wrist, resuming whatever he was doing on his bass.  
I grimaced. They were covered in fresh new blood.

"You're bl-bleeding," I said.  
"Way to go, Einstein." He grinned at me.  
"Are you o-okay?"  
"I'm totally fine, bud. Don't worry about me, okay?"  
"B-b-but you're bleeding."  
"One of the cuts I just made split open. It'll stop, don't worry."  
"You s-sure?"  
"Positive."

I strummed a few chords on my guitar. La, la, la...

The sun was shining, but it was also setting. It was getting to be the time of year where the sun set earlier and earlier.

"So..." I started, trying not to make it awkward with Stomp, "is e-everything alright, St-Stomp? R-Really, I'm n-not trying to g-get into your b-business, but you look r-really stressed and I'm st-starting to th-think it's m-more than just nerves."  
"I'm fine. I'm just tired."  
"I've h-heard that one b-before."  
"Franky, I don't wanna talk about it right now. Something's going on at home and I really don't wanna talk about it, okay? I'm fine, and I appreciate your concern, but don't worry about me. Got it?"  
I looked down, not replying. He kept to his bass, and that's how we spent the next ten minutes.

Then someone from the restaurant staff came outside and told us they were ready for us to go on.

We headed inside with our stuff. There was a stage in the front of the place with a drumset and four microphone stands. I stood in the front, with Petey K and Stomp behind me on either side. G-Billy fixed his mic so he could sing into it while sitting at the drumset.

We'd already decided that, because of my nervous stutter, Stomp would talk to the audience and not me. So he announced us, and we started playing.

My mom was working late and my dad was away this weekend for surfing. Stompin' Bob's parents and Petey K's parents weren't here, but G-Billy's were. Cadence was nowhere in sight, but she'd told me she might not be able to make it since she had to study: she has a Math test on Monday and she wants to bring up her grade.

It was actually cool, bring onstage with the band. After the first few songs, I got more comfortable and Stomp gave me the job of talking to the audience. It was scary, but my nervous stutter was gone.

The crowd was a little boring. They didn't really get into the songs much. We're not even really a 'rock' band, we play a lot of different stuff. So it's not like we were being super loud.

The manager of The Wave, however, loved us. Which was really exciting. He was dancing around in the back, singing along to the songs he knew. I felt happy to know that we'd made at least one penguin really happy tonight.

When we finished playing, we retreated back to the courtyard. There were lights on the back of the building, but other than that, it was pitch-black outside. It was almost 10:30, and I needed to get home. I was really tired.

But Stomp was my ride, so I had to wait for him.

"That was awesome!" G-Billy exclaimed.  
"Yeah!" Petey grinned. "Great job, guys! Sure, the crowd was lame, but it went well."  
I started packing up my stuff. "Yeah," I said.

The door into the restaurant opened. The manager came out. He was green, with black hair and a bushy black moustache.

"Hello!" he said to us.  
"Hi," Petey K said. G-Billy waved, and so did I. Stomp smiled at him, still packing his bass.  
"That was great, gentlemen."  
"Thank you," Petey K replied.  
"Now, I know it's late, but is there an email that I can reach one of you at?"  
"You can have mine," Petey said.  
"Hold on." He pulled out a cell phone. "What's your name again?"  
"Peter."  
"Alright. What's the address?"

Petey K gave him his email, then the guy left again.

"Billy, let's head out. It's late," Petey said.  
"Got it." G-Billy slung his bag over his shoulder, joining Petey at the door to the restaurant.  
"See you guys on Monday," Petey K called to Stomp and I as the two of them went inside.

Now it was just Stomp and I. I turned to him.

His face was really pale, to the point where it was almost green. He had a flipper on his stomach.

"Er... Stomp? You look-" I started, but before I could finish, he got up and ran over to the trash can near one of the chairs. He bent over it and got sick.

It was gross, but I was also really worried about him, so I got up. I gave him his space for a minute, then he finished and turned back to me. He only looked worse.

"I'm so sorry, Franky..."

I started towards him, but was one second too late as he passed out.

"STOMP!"


	26. Chapter 26: Stomp's Troubles

I frantically bent over Stomp, who was on the ground and unconscious.  
"Stomp?" I shook his shoulder really hard. "C'mon, man..."  
Nothing. His eyes were shut and his body was limp. I felt for a pulse, and his heart was beating really fast.

I gotta get help.

Shaking, I stood up and dashed over to the door into the restaurant. It was still open, but they closed at 10:40, which was in 10 minutes.

I looked around for the manager. The place was dead now, because everyone had left after we finished playing. As I spotted the manager, I ran across the dining room to his spot next to the kitchen.

"Everything okay, Franky?" he asked me.  
"S-sir, I n-need help out b-b-back!" I stuttered hurriedly.  
He raised a bushy eyebrow. "What's wrong back there?"  
"It's Sto-" I remembered that he knew him by Rob, not Stomp. "-R-Rob, he... he p-passed out!"  
His eyes widened as he stood up from his leaning position against the wall. "But he was fine!"  
"I kn-know, I th-thought s-so too!"  
Together, we started waddling quickly towards the door to outside as he kept talking. "So what happened?"  
"A-after you left-" We stepped out into the cool courtyard, and he closed the door behind him, running over to Stomp. I followed. "-I looked o-over at h-him to t-talk to him, a-and he l-l-looked really p-pale and gr-green... Wh-which was weird b-because he'd b-b-been looking o-okay to me a f-few minutes earlier... He g-got up, came over t-to this trash c-c-can, threw up, apolo-apologized to m-me, and p-passed out."

He knelt down over Stomp, and I did too.

"What the... how could this happen when he seemed fine that whole time?" He looked shocked and worried.  
"I d-dunno!" I realized I was about to cry, and I had no idea why.  
"Shhh, it's alright, Franky." He put his flipper on my back. "I'm going to call 911. They can handle this better than we can."  
"Is he g-gonna be o-okay?"  
"I hope so." He pulled a phone out of his pocket and dialed 9-1-1, waddling away towards the edge of the courtyard.

I looked at Stomp for a second. His face was still pale, and he looked rough. I got up and packed up what was left of his stuff for him, and packed up mine, too. Then I put the pile of it next to the door. I sat down next to him again, taking deep breaths.

The manager was back. "An ambulance is going to be here in 3 minutes. Are your parents coming?"  
I shook my head. "H-he was my r-ride home... and I'm n-n-not leaving. He's my fr-friend and I w-wanna know that he's o-okay."  
He shrugged. "Okay."

The next minute or so was spent in silence, then a few hospital people came through the door. I was pushed away as they all gathered around Stomp, and I huddled next to the pile of stuff in the corner.

About 45 minutes later, I was sitting in the hospital waiting-room, waiting to be picked up by Mom. Stompin' Bob, who still wasn't awake, had to spend the night here, and Mom insisted that I needed to come home.

I reached into my pocket, pulling out my cell phone. I wish I could call Stomp's parents for him, but I have no idea what their home number is. There's going to be nobody here for him when he wakes up. No wonder he cuts himself.

A few minutes later, Mom came down the hall. She looked REALLY tired, and tapped me on the shoulder, making the 'get up' motion with her flipper (I was sitting in a chair).  
"H-hi, Mom," I said. I stood up, picking up my stuff.  
"C'mon, Franky, let's go." She started down the hall, and I followed her.  
Catching up to her, I hung my head. "S-sorry it's so l-late."  
"That's okay."  
"Are y-you mad?"  
"No."  
"Are y-you s-sure?"  
"Positive."  
"Wh-why are you being so qu-quiet?"  
"Because it's late, and I'm tired."  
"Oh."

We waddled to the car in silence, and I tossed my stuff in the back. As we started to drive home, I buried my face in my flippers, sighing. Mom turned on the radio. One of my favorite songs was playing, but I turned the radio down, shaking my head. I just don't feel like it.

"He'll be okay, Franky," Mom said.  
"I h-hope so."

Later, at about midnight, I laid in bed thinking. What could have caused Stomp to freak out and pass out like that? Maybe one of his cuts split open, and he bled too much? Maybe he ate something bad before we performed? Maybe there was something wrong with his scissors?

My mind was racing. I tossed and turned in bed. Nothing took my mind off it, not drawing, not listening to music, not trying to think about Cadence or something.

At about 1:30, I think I dozed off for awhile, because when I woke up again, it was 2:45. It was too hot in my room, even without blankets, sheets, or a shirt. I turned on my lamp and tried to read, but I couldn't get into the book enough to keep my mind off what could be wrong with Stomp. I was shivering really badly, and not because I was cold- it was still hot. I was just nervous.

I hugged my pillow. I kept sitting up and laying back down, laying down in different positions each time I laid down.

I groaned. I wish I could just fall asleep.

At 4, I gave up on sleeping and started messing around on my phone. It took my mind off it a little, but not much. I looked up causes of fainting on the Internet, and I got a lot of things like stress, blood pressure problems, and other stuff like that.

Around five, I got a text from Cadence complaining that she couldn't sleep. I grinned. Perfect timing, Cadence.

I asked her what was up, and she replied 'nothing, I just woke up at 4 and couldn't fall back asleep'. I told her I'd been awake basically all night and would've liked to know that. She asked why, and I told her the whole story of the gig and Stomp passing out. She reacted the same way everyone had: 'how?'. I replied that I didn't know, and we just kept talking.

We texted for awhile, at least 2 hours. Then she announced she was tired and wanted to get at least another hour of sleep, so I said goodbye and she didn't reply. Feeling alone again, I started drawing. Originally the drawing was going to be Cadence and I, but I accidentally made the male penguin way taller than the female one. Cadence is only a tiny bit shorter than me, and I hate it when my drawings are off. So I gave the boy Stomp's hair. I really didn't know what I was doing, but soon enough, the two penguins evolved into him and PH. I figured I'd give it to him when he woke up.

Ripping the page out of my sketchpad, I put it in my nightstand drawer and put away my sketchpad.

Mom got up around 8, and I heard her go downstairs to do something. I just sat around in my room, worrying and playing Angry Birds on my phone.

Around nine, my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize. I answered it.

"Hello?" I said.  
"Hey, buddy." Stompin' Bob sounded exhausted.  
"Stomp, you're awake!"  
"Yeah, I woke up about an hour ago."  
"Are you okay?"  
"Yeah, I feel better than I did..."  
"Did they tell you why you passed out?"  
"Yeah... It was just a whole lot of stress, and I cut a little too deep." He lowered his voice.  
"So they know you cut?"  
"Nope."  
"Then how do they say that's a cause...?"  
"That's my theory. It's happened before, but ice never puked or passed out because of it."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah. But I'm better."  
"Good." I paused. "Are your parents there?"  
"Nope." There was a sarcastic tone to his voice as he went on. "Best parents ever, right?"  
"How come they're not there?"  
"It was 'too early' when I called them to tell them what happened, and my dad was REALLY mad at me..."  
"Why? You couldn't help it!"  
"Yeah, but he thinks I can help everything I do, so..."  
"Aw, that sucks."  
"Whatever. I don't need them to be here, anyways. It's not like they care."  
"I'm sure they care."  
He laughed. "Nice joke."  
"So who's gonna bring you home?"  
"Myself."  
"Your car's at the restaurant..."  
"They're gonna go get it."  
"Oh."

He let out a long sigh. "I hate this."  
"You hate what?"  
"This. Being completely ignored by my parents even when I need some support."  
"Oh..."  
"I don't get why they ignore me so much, Franky. What did I ever do to them?"  
I shrugged. "Beats me."  
"At least I've got you and G-Billy and Petey."  
"Yeah..."  
"Oh-" He muttered a few curse words.  
"What?" I asked.  
"I'm on the hospital phone because my cell phone was dead, and now that I charged it, I can see my missed calls..."  
"What's so bad about that?"  
"I have 4 missed calls from PH..."  
"Ooh."  
"Wish me luck, buddy. I'm gonna try calling her."  
"Good luck."  
"Thanks." He laughed. "I'll call you later."  
"Okay."  
"See ya."  
"Bye."

I hung up, putting my phone down. His parents didn't show up. That's horrible.

I leaned back.

I'm really lucky to have what I do.  
-


	27. Chapter 27: My Theory

Cadence yawned. "I'm so tired... and so hungry..."  
"Me, too." I unzipped my backpack. "I have gum. Want some?"  
"What flavor?"  
"Mint."  
"Sure."

I pulled two sticks of gum out of my bag, then took two for myself. Leaning back, I gave her the two for her and popped mine in my beak.

"I just want the day to be over," I complained.  
"Me, too..." she said. "As much as hanging out with you is fun, I hate this period. It's like they're taunting you with the weekend."  
I laughed. "What do you mean by that?"  
"I mean what I said. The last period on Friday is like they're taunting you with the weekend."  
"Kaaaay..." I said.  
"So, do you guys think you'll play another gig soon?" she asked.  
"Yeah, but hopefully Stompin' Bob will be okay next time."  
"Well, he's fine now... right?"  
"Yeah, yeah." Stomp had been out of school on Monday, but came back on Tuesday and had been okay all week. "I just hope he won't stress himself out."  
"Yeah."

I looked over to Cadence, who blew a bubble, then kept chewing her gum.  
"What?" she asked with a giggle.  
"Nothing." I looked around the music room. "It's so dead in here during this period..."  
"Yeah." She leaned over closer to me, and I put my flipper around her back. Looking up at me, she rubbed beaks with me and said softly, "Franky, what's wrong? Stomp's fine. He's been in school since Tuesday."  
"I know. It's not that. It's just..." I sighed, pausing. "I have this weird question to ask you."  
"What is it?"  
I took a deep breath. All week, my mind had been racing with the possible scenarios that Stomp could have at home. "Do you... do you think Stomp's parents hit him?"  
Cadence's eyes widened. "You think so?"  
"I dunno... It's really just a theory I have... I have no proof... but he's always so sad and he's c-" I stopped mid-sentence, suddenly aware that Cadence didn't know he cuts. "uh, I mean, he's so uptight and he never really seems truly happy..."  
Luckily, she didn't say anything. "I never really thought about that. I never really thought about this stuff at all... but that'd be horrible..."  
"Yeah... I just can't see him as someone who would tolerate that, though. He'd leave the house or something.."  
She shrugged. "Maybe."

"I'll talk to him... later," I said. "Let's talk about something else."  
Her bubble popped. "Such as?"  
"Wasn't that English homework ridiculous last night?"  
"Oh, my God. It was horrible. How does she expect us to have time to write a whole draft of an essay in one night?!"  
"I dunno... It was bad. I was up 'til 10:15 working on it."  
"Same."  
"Who even cares about Hamlet, really? We've been working on it since almost the beginning of the year. I hate it. Shakespeare is so overrated."  
"I agree. It's so stupid." She leaned back against the wall. We were sitting down on the ground.  
"Okay, I really don't think this gum is gonna cut it. I think I have some coins somewhere... I'll go to the vending machine in the band department." I put my backpack in my lap, unzipping the front pocket. There were a couple coins in there.

"Do you have something small I can carry the coins in?" I asked Cadence.  
"I've got this." She held up a small purple change-purse. "...but it's not exactly something you wanna be seen with in the halls. Does it fit in your pocket?" She slid the little pouch into my sweatshirt pocket, causing me to giggle because she was tickling my belly by doing it.

"What?" She smiled, her flipper still in my pocket. "You ticklish?"  
I blushed. "No..."  
She squeezed my belly. I jumped, laughing.

"Don't even think about it," I said.  
"Oh, but I am thinking about it."  
"Oh, but I'm leaving." I took the coins out of my bag, putting them in the pouch. Then I put the pouch in my pocket again, stood up, and turned to Cadence, starting to waddle backwards.

"What do you want from the machine?" I asked.  
"Hmmmm... Can I have a Twix bar?"  
"Sure. I'll be back in just a minute."  
"Bye!" She waved, then laughed. I winked at her and hit the doorframe while waddling backwards, causing me to awkwardly stumble and go red as I started down the hall.

Well, that was embarrassing.

I waddled down the hall, humming the tune of one of our Chorus songs. There were some kids here and there, but there weren't many.

When I reached the vending machine, I pulled the pouch out of my pocket. It was awkward and weird to be seen with it, but I tried to hide it while I was taking coins out. I put two in, then hit E7 for Cadence's candy bar. The machine let it go, and it fell to the bottom. I got it from the retrieving area, then looked around. What do I want?

I decided I wanted some M&M's, and pressed D2. The bag started to fall, and got caught on the little piece of metal in the vending machine.

"Aw, c'mon," I said, sighing. I hit the front of the vending machine, but it was no use.

"Dang it." I was about to hit it again when I felt someone grab my elbows from behind. My shoulders tightened up and there was a sharp pain in my biceps as whoever it was behind me pulled my flippers back into a twisted and awkward position.

"Ah!" I cried, turning my head to see who it was.  
"Want some help with that, Jones?" It was Mike, Charles' big brother. He was so much bigger than me. Behind him stood Charles, with his flippers crossed and an evil grin.

"G-get lost!" I said.  
"Rather not. What's this?" He ripped the change purse out of my flipper, then burst out laughing. "Seriously, Jones, what the hell is this? I knew you were a wimp, but I had no idea you were gay." Charles was laughing, too.  
I rolled my eyes, trying to get it back from him. "Th-That's n-not mine, it's C-Cadence's."  
Now Charles looked mad. "I thought I told you to stay away from her."  
"Charles, l-let it g-go. I'm n-not going to ig-ignore her because y-you're j-jealous of me."  
"I'm not jealous of you. She's mine. We all know that. She and I have been together since the fourth grade."  
"She d-doesn't like you, Ch-Charles."  
"You shut up," Mike said, tightening his grip on my flippers.  
"B-but she doesn't!"  
"Yes, she does. She knows me a lot better than she knows you."  
"Wh-whatever, man. Y-you're d-d-delusional." I winced from the pain that Mike was causing in my flippers.  
Charles rolled his eyes. "Mike, we don't have time to deal with him. Let's go."  
"Whatever." Mike let go of me and threw the pouch at my face.  
"Ow!" I said, rubbing my beak and putting it back in my pocket.  
"We're not done with you, Jones," Mike called as they disappeared down another hallway.

I shrugged, then looked at my M&M's, suspended in the vending machine.

"C'mon." I shook the machine. "Fall down, fall down..."

It wasn't working. I sighed, kicking the machine.

There were other coins in the pouch, so I just took another two and put them in, entering D2 again. This time, they fell, and so did another pack.

"Bonus," I said, taking the two packs and pocketing them both. I started for the music room again.

Cadence was using her phone, and put it away when I waddled through the door.

"Hey." I sat down next to her, giving her the candy bar and the purse.  
"'Sup?" She unwrapped it, taking a bite of one of the two bars in the pack. "Thanks, by the way."  
"No problem." I popped an M&M in my beak.  
She leaned on my shoulder. "Sorry for not talking. I'm just really tired."  
"It's fine, I'm tired too. We don't need to talk."  
"Mmkay."

I yawned, closing my eyes. "Do you know what time it is?"  
"4:49."  
"Shoot, we have to go."  
"Yeah." She sat up and grabbed her backpack. I got mine, too, and picked up my guitar. Then I held out my flipper to her.

"Let's go," I said.  
She took my flipper. "Okay."

We left the music room and waddled down the hall, flipper-in-flipper. The hall was crowded with kids packing up and heading out front for dismissal.

"Agh! So many penguins!" Cadence cried. "Run!"

I laughed, following her as she ran down the hallway. We reached the front door and went outside.

"Ohh, it's freezing!" Cadence cried.  
"Yeah!"  
"Aw, fish, that's my car. See ya." She let go of my flipper, kissed me on the cheek, and waved to me as she headed down to her mom's car.

I smiled, blushing and waving after her. Her mom drove away. Then I looked around.

Pine Hill High is total chaos at dismissal. Basically, you wait in the front for your car, or if you're an older student and you have a car, you go get it from the parking lot and go home. All the freshmen, sophomores, and some of the juniors come out to the front. The seniors mostly all have cars.

I looked around, then spotted Stompin' Bob sitting on a rock off to the side of the crowd. He looked miserable.

I waddled down to him. As I approached, he looked up.

"Hey, buddy," he said, managing a tiny smile.  
"Hi, Stomp." I sat down next to him. "What's wrong?"  
"I've just had a rough week."  
"Obviously." I suddenly remembered the drawing I'd made for him on Saturday. I can't believe I forgot to give it to him.

Reaching into my backpack, I said, "I have something for you."  
"Really? What is it?" He leaned over to me.

I gave him the folded-up drawing. "This."

He looked at it, and smiled. "That's so cool, buddy. Thanks a bunch." He half-hugged me, and as he did I noticed something.

On the inside of his right flipper, there was a nasty bruise.

"Stomp?" I asked. "How did you get that?" I pointed to it.  
He looked at his flipper. "Oh, this?" He paused for a long time. "That's another conversation for another day."  
"You can tell me, y'know."  
"I know. But it's not a good conversation to have right now. Isn't that your mom?" He pointed to the line of cars up front. Mom's red car was indeed in the front of the line.

"Great timing, Mom," I said sarcastically, gathering my stuff.  
"See you tomorrow for practice," Stomp said.  
"Bye." I waved to him. "We're having that conversation soon."  
"Okay. Thanks for the drawing." He waved back, smiling.

I headed down to the car, putting my stuff on the seat next to me as I got in.

My theory just might be true.


	28. Chapter 28: Solo Auditions

I yawned, burying my face in my flippers on my desk. I'm tired and it's only homeroom.

Mr. Hawkins was at his desk grading papers, and the rest of my advising group were all off doing their own thing. I tend to be the loner in the group, since none of my friends are in it. Well, Devin is, but his best friend Anthony is in the group too, and they hang out with different penguins.

So I usually sit alone, drawing and waiting for classes to start.

Today, Mr. Hawkins had brought us a box of donuts from Cunning Donuts down the street. I wasn't really that hungry, but I ate one anyway. It had white frosting and chocolate sprinkles, and it was really good.

"So," Mr. Hawkins said, looking up from his papers, "anything special going on today?"  
I realized I was the closest penguin to his desk, and he was talking to me. "What do you mean?" I asked.  
"Do you have any tests or anything?"  
I shrugged. "I don't think so... we might have a Science quiz, though."  
"Did you study?"  
"Yeah..." Although Mr. Hawkins is one of the best teachers at Pine Hill, he gets on me because I'm dyslexic. Most of the teachers do. They just make sure I'm caught-up and stuff. It's nice, but it's also kinda embarrassing when Mrs. Chattaway asks me if I need help reading in English, or when Mrs. Edgewood is constantly asking me to read aloud in Spanish.  
"Good." Mr. Hawkins looked at his schedule. "How 'bout those Chorus solo auditions? You think you'll try out?"  
I went red. I'd been hoping nobody would bring that up to me. "Uh... I don't think so."  
"Why not? You've got a great voice."  
"Thanks, but... I don't think they wanna hear a male soprano sing a solo..."  
"There's nothing wrong with being a soprano, Franky. You hatched that way. You're unique."  
"Thanks." I sighed. "I dunno, maybe I'll think about it."  
"That's the spirit."  
I half-grinned.

The solo auditions were during free period, which was when band practice was on Thursdays. Not school band- Penguin Band. I guess the guys can do without me while I go sing 16 bars of one of our Chorus songs, though.

I yawned, putting my cheek in my flipper and taking another bite of my sugary donut.

A few minutes later, Mr. Hawkins dismissed us to first-period.

Later that day, I was standing next to my locker, debating whether to go to the audition or not.

Free period lasts an hour. I get the feeling there're gonna be a LOT of kids at that audition, and the last thing I wanna do is sing in front of them all while Charles laughs under his breath at me.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on the shoulder. I turned around. There was Cadence, with her flippers crossed and an eye raised. (She doesn't really have eyebrows to raise.)

"Are you going?" she asked.  
I shrugged. "Are you?"  
"Only if you are."  
"I'm not so sure..."  
"Why?"  
"Because," I started, closing my locker, "everyone's gonna have to hear me sing."  
"And? You've got a great voice, Franky."  
I blushed. "Well, thanks, but..."  
Cadence stepped close to me, taking one of my flippers and lifting it up. The tip of her beak touched mine, and she said, "Franky." Her voice was sweet and she was smiling.  
"Yeah?" I knew I was blushing.  
"Stop being so self-conscious about your voice. Come to the audition with me. It'll be fun."  
"You sure?"  
"I'm positive." She looked around. "C'mon, let's go." She started down the hall, pulling me next to her by my flipper.  
"Fine..."

When we reached the music room, I winced. I'm pretty sure most of our department stood outside the door, waiting to be let in by Ms. Lee. There are 31 kids in the music department. It doesn't sound like very much, but when you're going up against them and only one or two penguins can come out on top, it's a lot.

I knew, however, that at least 7 kids in the department were in Band only, so that's 24.

Still a lot.

"You sure about this?" I asked Cadence as we approached the crowd.  
"I'm sure, Franky." She tugged my flipper. "C'mon."  
"I'm nervous..." I murmured as we joined the crowd.  
"Don't be."

Ms. Lee opened the door. "C'mon in, guys."

The huge group of kids all crowded into her room. Even if the room was pretty big, there were still a lot of us.  
"Okay, riser order," she said. 'Riser order' meant for us to get into the order we stood in on the risers. She had four long silver benches in her room that we stood in front of.

Riser order meant taking my spot in the cluster of girls that were the sopranos. I actually hate most of them. Their speaking voices are really obnoxious and they're all really stuck-up.

Since I'm short, I stand on the bottom riser. Sometimes I wonder if I stand there just because the school wants to humiliate me.

"Okay," said Ms. Lee, taking her spot at the piano. "We have an hour. I'm hoping the auditions won't take that long, but you never know. Let's go ahead and warm up, then what I'll do is pull you over there-" She pointed to her office door- "individually and we'll work from there. Sound good?"  
The class gave a general 'yes', then we started warming up.

On the risers, I stand to the left of Madelyn Isle and to the right of (of course) Kayleigh Moore. Madelyn's okay, one of the less annoying girls in the group. But Kayleigh's horrible. Even her laugh annoys me. The other day, Nick and I were plotting to set her up with Charles.

Cadence stood a little ways down the bottom riser from me. She's a soprano II, which is just another way of saying she's a mezzo-soprano. That means she can hit alto and soprano notes. I wanted to be in that group, since three other high-voiced guys are in it and I can hit low notes, too. But Ms. Lee had to be a troll and make me a soprano instead.

Warming up seemed to take forever. It always does, really. Ms. Lee has a bunch of different warmups that she uses with the different groups.

Finally, it was time for her to start pulling us for the individual auditions. She did the sopranos first (of course). Leslie Janson went first. She's pink, blonde, and a high-class popular girl. Everyone adores her. I don't talk to her very much, but I think she has a crush on me because she always winks at me and accidentally-on-purpose bumps into me in the halls. It might just be her popular girl instinct, but I haven't seen her do it to anyone else.

While Leslie was auditioning, everyone else was talking. Kayleigh turned to me and said, "I'm so excited about this. I really hope I'll get a solo, but then again, I'm not that good..." Kayleigh does this all the time to get compliments.  
I shrugged. "It's Ms. Lee's descision, and she seems to think you're pretty good."  
"I know, but look at everyone here! This is so, so exciting." She smiled this huge and obnoxious smile. I turned away, shrugging.

Everyone was getting out of riser order, and I suddenly found Cadence sitting next to me on the bench. "Hey."  
I jumped. "Where'd you come from?"  
She laughed. "I dunno."  
"You nervous?"  
"A little."  
"Me, too."  
"Oh, hey, Candance," said Kayleigh.  
"It's Cadence," we both corrected at the same time.  
"Oh." She laughed. "Girls, check it out. Our little Franky's all grown up."  
I rolled my eyes. The girls in the soprano section all consider me to be their adorable little teddy bear. It's so annoying.  
"You can do better than that, Franky," remarked Perrie, one of the girls. "Go out with one of us!"  
Cadence awkwardly shrunk away.  
"Hey, wait-" I started after Cadence. She went over to the wall and sat down against it (everyone had spread out so much it didn't really matter where we went in the room).  
"Jerks," Cadence said as I sat down next to her, putting my flipper around her shoulders.  
"You know I'm not a part of that group, Cadence... they're just dumb," I said.  
"Yeah, yeah..."  
"It's true." I sighed. "Sorry about them. They're total jerks..."  
She leaned on my shoulder. "Yep."

A few minutes passed, then Ms. Lee called me. I made my way over to her office, where she had her laptop open.

She closed the door, sitting down at her desk.

"Hi, Franky," she said. "You ready?"  
"Sure..." I said nervously.  
"We're gonna do this one first." She pointed to her computer screen, where she had a few tracks up. "Whenever you're ready."  
"I'm ready," I said.  
"Okay." She pressed 'play'.

The stanza was short. We'd been learning it in class, so it wasn't new. I breezed through it. It was the easier one of the three.

The other two followed. They weren't very hard, either. The audition want by fast. When it was finished, Ms. Lee sent me back into the music room, thanking me and telling me she'd post the soloists on Monday.

I looked around for Cadence. She was nowhere in sight, and it's kind of hard to miss her hair. Ms. Lee said I could go, even though I wanted to stick around for her audition.

Cadence wasn't here. I left the room and waddled down the hallway. She wasn't at her locker, or with her advising group, or in the Band room. Finally, after about 10 minutes of searching, I found her in the girls' room. I didn't go in, but I followed the sound of her crying and realized she was in there. Why she was crying I didn't know, so I knocked on the door.

"Hold on," she said to me, having no idea it was me.  
"It's me, Franky," I said.  
She opened the door. Her face was red from crying. "What do you want?"  
"What's wrong?" I asked.  
"Nothing."  
"Obviously something."  
She sighed. "It's those stupid girls... when you went in for your audition, they all started making fun of me... I don't even wanna try out anymore..."  
"Come out here, will ya?" I asked.  
She sighed, stepping out of the door and closing it. "What?"  
I held out my flippers. She sighed, wrapping herself up in them and hugging me tightly.

"They're jerks. Remember what I told you? Don't listen to them."  
"Sometimes it's not that easy."  
"I know." I sighed. "I'll always be here for you if you need me... got it?"  
"Got it."

"C'mon..." I started. "This isn't exactly the best place to hang out. Let's find somewhere else."


End file.
